Digital Union: World Tournament
by RogueTamer2k7
Summary: The time for the first Digimon Card Game World Tournament has come. Rika's going so she can win it. Takato's going to help with security. Unfortunately, things are more dangerous than they seem and a certain Tamer must face his past whether he likes to or not. Never let your fear decide your fate. OC Heavy. Two years after D-Reaper.
1. Tamers of Japan

Chapter 1: Tamers of Japan

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Also, thanks to CrazyEight for betareading.

* * *

**Four weeks before tournament**

Rika Makino just had one last card to play. She digivolved her Taomon to Sakuyamon and then proceeded to use a Dark Training Manual to defeat her opponent's Garurumon, thus reducing his points to nothing. Her opponent, a silver-haired boy from Koto and fellow Tamer, Ryouma Mogami, didn't flinch. Instead, he simply waited for the announcement.

"Rika Makino is now the winner of the Japanese National Tournament!" the announcer shouted excitedly.

The red-haired girl couldn't believe it. She had made it this far, even beating Ryo at the Prefecture level. The girl gathered up her cards and walked up to receive her prize. She, Ryouma and another player received their trophies. Hers was gold with the number one on the side as well as the words 'Japanese Champion' on the side.

"Also, Rika Makino and her runner up, Ryouma Mogami will each receive two plane tickets so that they can participate in the World Championships in August and bring a friend along as well. Rika gets the entire set of new Digimental cards, the Digimentals of Darkness, Pride, Desire and Tenacity while Ryouma gets Darkness and Tenacity. Please give a round of applause to the new Champion of Japan!"

Rika felt honored to receive her prizes as well as the cheers from the other participants and audience members. She smiled. She finally made it to this level.

Unfortunately, she also felt something was missing, though she didn't know what.

* * *

"You did an outstanding job at the tournament today, Miss Makino," Ryouma complimented as the two were leaving, walking towards the subway station. The boy had been a Tamer since just before the Parasimon incident when numerous children around the world received partners. The digimon themselves were sent by the sovereigns in order to defeat an enemy in the digital world, however they ended up not being needed since the Tamers had already fought and defeated it. Much to Rika's dismay, it ended up being Kazu who dealt the final blow.

"Thanks," the red-head responded. "So, are you going straight home?"

"Yes. I'm going to celebrate with Ren and Airu. You?"

"I'm probably just going to have a nice dinner with my mom and grandma."

Ryouma smiled. "You're not going to have any friends over?"

"Well, not tonight. I'm just thinking of taking a nice, relaxing bath. It was nerve-racking getting to this point. At least we have a month before the next tournament," Rika said while envisioning that.

"Yes, we do. Out of curiosity, who are you going to bring?" the silver-haired teen inquired, curious as to her answer.

Rika was taken aback by that question. She really hadn't thought about it. Ever since shortly after the Parasimon incident, she hasn't really been around her friends very much, save Jeri. But now that girl had a new boyfriend, though Rika had yet to meet him. She knew, however, that he definitely wasn't Takato.

Takato… that stupid gogglehead had to ask her out on a date even though she already told him not to a couple weeks before. She couldn't handle the thought, even though she did sort-of like him.

She snapped out of that thinking when she heard Ryouma's voice again. "If you don't have anyone in mind, you could always take one of my friends."

Rika didn't know what to say to that. For all she knew, Ryouma was going to have her take Airu Suzaki. The other female tamer with an Opossummon kind of got on the red-head's nerves with her obsession with cuteness. So, all Rika could respond with was a simple "I'll think about it."

Ryouma nodded. "I understand if you don't want her around. Still, if you decide not to bring anyone else…"

Rika gave him a slight nod, thinking she'd probably bring one of her teammates, Miki, Ayaka or Jeri instead. Looking up, she found out they were already at the subway station. "Well, I guess this is where we part. Good job on your match, today."

"Likewise. Good bye," then Ryouma sat down to wait for a train heading for Koto while Rika boarded the train for Shinjuku.

* * *

Takato Matsuki was seriously struggling on his test. He really was hoping that the eighth grade wouldn't be so difficult, but here he was, working on an Algebra exam.

Thankfully, he got it done a few minutes before the bell rang so he could cool off after that exam. So, when that was all over with, he just sat down, and drew. His art was getting better and his people were definitely more realistic. Basically, he just wanted to blow off his nervousness by drawing something random.

He thought a lot while he drew. He thought about the numerous Tamers that now existed in the world, wondering what their lives were like. He somehow imagined each of those three Tamers he met two years before having reached the Ultimate stage. Unfortunately, none of the tamers other than him, Rika, Ryo and Henry could reach the Mega level. Thankfully, there haven't been any Mega-level bioemergences lately, so Takato could rest easy.

When Takato looked around his classroom, he saw all the other students. He spotted Kazu, who had made great strides towards maturity since defeating TysiachaGlazkovmon two years earlier. That was a battle that Takato would like to forget.

Then there was Kenta, who, despite having a mega-level partner was still fairly weak. Still, he showed excellent support for the other tamers, even healing their partners after battle. He had also grown more confident.

Henry was still thoughtful as ever. In the three years since becoming tamers, he had been able to loosen up, partially due to his partner, Terriermon. His sister has also grown and is able to digivolve her partner to Antylamon when needed. She has also managed to take on a number of opponents on her own and had gotten past the point of dressing Terriermon up in a dress.

And then there was Jeri, who was finally reunited with a reborn Leomon a few months after the deployment of Shibumi's Village of Beginnings program. The digimon's data had been extracted from Impmon and used against the Tamers as a MadLeomon, but then he got deleted a second time, this time his data floated through the digital world until the Village of Beginnings was installed.

Now she had a boyfriend, though nobody knew who he was. This was a bit of a letdown for Takato. He also had a crush on Rika, but when he revealed his feelings for her…

He didn't want to think about that.

He also looked at the various other tamers around the room. They had truly become a group to be reckoned with. Now Miki, Ayaka, Yuji, Taizou and Tadashi were tamers, though they could only reach the Ultimate level. At least the rest of Takato's group let them grow into their roles.

He knew about tamers all over Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, though he still hasn't met most of them.

Takato finally finished his drawing as the bell rang. To his dismay, it was a portrait of Rika. Kazu saw this from next to him and couldn't help but chuckle.

* * *

Guilmon was glad to see Takato again. He spent most of his days hanging around the brown-haired tamer's room and occasionally helping the boy's parents. "How was your day, Takato?" he asked as his partner walked in and plopped on the futon.

"Good. I accidentally drew another picture of Rika."

The small dinosaur tilted his head. "Why don't we go and visit her?" he asked.

"That would just be awkward." Takato closed his eyes and tried not to think about the girl he still had a strong attachment to years later. Still, she constantly came up. At that moment, he still wished that Jeri was single so that he could ask her out. He hasn't seen her boyfriend, but he knew that he was a pretty big guy from what she had said about him.

The boy knew that he should have been doing homework, but he just didn't have the ambition to do so.

"What's wrong, Takato?" Guilmon asked, his ears twitching. He hated seeing his Tamer like this.

"It's nothing… just Rika again."

After a few more seconds of silence, he heard his parents call out to him. "Takato, we have customers!"

And so he popped up out of bed and downstairs, his partner digimon following him. He rang up a few customers at the register, being sure to be accurate in his calculation of their money and change. At least he was using his math for something. Guilmon just sat next to him. He was a common sight for customers and they had long since gotten used to the red dinosaur who sometimes delivered bread to them.

"Okay, that will be 600 yen," Takato told the black-haired man in front of him.

"Here's a debit card," the man said. Takato took the card, slid it through his card reader, and printed out a sheet of paper to sign.

"Alright, here you go, Mr... Minamoto," he said, handing the black-haired man the paper. He signed it and gave it back to him. Noticing there were a couple of people behind him, the man just waited until they left before he made his proposition.

"Excuse me, Mr. Matsuki," he said. "I know that you're a Digimon Tamer. I have a job for you."

Takato was surprised at this. Hypnos was the only group that gave him jobs. Usually he got about 10,000 yen for every rookie he apprehended, 20,000 for every Champion-level, and 50,000 for each Ultimate. Most of the time, the digimon were hostile, but every so often he encountered one that wouldn't fight and would simply let it go. Sometimes they even found partners. In fact, that was how Yuuji, Taizou and Tadashi got theirs.

It was a good job.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, cautiously.

"I'm actually the tournament organizer for the World Championship and I need security. There's one contestant in particular I need to have protected. Would you like to help?"

The World Championship… Takato had dreams of going to the first official World Championship tournament for Digimon. Unfortunately those dreams were crushed at the Shinjuku tournament when he lost to Ryo.

Still, this was a once in a lifetime chance. "How do I know this is legit?" Takato inquired.

"Meet me in my offices," the man said, handing Takato a card with his name on it. He apparently worked at the offices for Bandai as a promoter. Takato had no idea of the full extent of his connections with the various Tamers around the world.

He would accept.

* * *

Koji Minamoto's plan was going well. And now his mind was on the tournament that he was having. He bought out a place called Santa Corona for a few days so that they could have their tournament in peace. The island was also in an area where they couldn't possibly have any bioemergences and there was also no way that anyone from any subversive organization (such as the remnants of the recently defeated Digimon Academy, for instance) could possibly interfere or even find them. The only problem was getting there, since Osamu Ichijouji was now in the custody of Echelon for supposed terrorism and his partner was a good means of transport in his higher levels.

Then again, maybe the boy shouldn't have gone to Vegas to blatantly manipulate the team there in the first place.

When Koji entered into his office, however, he had a rude surprise in the form of a black-haired, sunglass-wearing, fifteen-year-old and his Dobermon. "Hello, Mr. Minamoto. Fancy seeing you here."

Koji raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have any better things to do than harass me. You know now that I wasn't the one…"

"I don't care," the boy interrupted, smiling and adjusting his dark, circular sunglasses. "It's the fault of your underling that I'm considered a fugitive."

"And what do you want me to do about it, Ezekiel?"

"Simple… I need you to erase my criminal records and remove the warrant out for my arrest from every list in the world." The boy walked over to Koji's desk and sat down in the executive's chair. "You can do it. I know you can. You had to have added records of your own when you came through time with your other three teammates, if that actually happened."

"And what do you want to do in return?" Koji asked, hoping to take advantage of the situation.

"To be honest… I don't know. What do you want me to do? I can reach Ultimate, so I'm probably one of the best Tamers in the world." The fact that the tamer in front of him made the claim of being one of the best made him twitch, especially considering that there were dozens of tamers out there that could reach that stage. On the other hand, if he could reach the Mega level…

"You do a job for me. You will perform guard duty during the World Championship Tournament," Koji said, smirking a little at the thought.

Ezekiel's eyes widened a bit. "That's it? This will be easy."

Koji smirked a little bit. Apparently this boy hadn't heard about the debacle that was the National Tournament in the United States. Still, he hoped that this tournament didn't have as many problems.

* * *

Some days later, after school, Takato was stopped by Kazu on the way out. "Hey, man! What are you doing this afternoon?" he asked, holding the handles of his backpack.

"Uh, I don't really have anything planned. My parents might want me to help out at the bakery. Why, what do you have in mind?" Takato inquired, curious.

Just then, Jeri walked past them, waving them good-bye. After she was out of earshot, Kazu's eyes narrowed and his grin widened. "What do you say we follow her and find out who her boyfriend is?"

Takato's eyes widened. "What?"

"No seriously, she's been dating this guy for how long? And she has yet to introduce us? Come on, don't tell me you're not curious about that?" the visor-wearing teen said, egging his friend on.

"Maybe she has a good reason…" Takato started to say before getting interrupted by Kazu.

"Yeah right. Watch, he's probably some tattooed American who's way older than her and smokes," he suggested, hoping that the disturbing image would work its way into his friend's mind.  
Takato still didn't buy into it. "But… seriously. Who else would want to do this?"

Just then, Kenta and a familiar blond boy from their class came up. "So, ready to find out who she's dating?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just trying to convince Takato. Where's Taizou and Yuji?"

"I think they had plans already," the blond, Tadashi, said.

"Yeah, so we're just going to head back home, get changed out of our school uniforms, get our Digimon partners and then meet you guys at Jeri's place. That cool?" Kazu informed the group.

"Yeah!" Kenta and Tadashi cheered. Takato still wasn't convinced.

"Come on, Takato, you want to know who Jeri is dating, don't you? Besides, it's not like you have anything else planned," Kazu taunted him.

Takato blushed a little bit. "Sure. I guess I'll come."

* * *

A few minutes later, the gang finally met just down the street from the tavern that Jeri's parents ran. "Now, all we have to do is wait until she leaves and then keep our distance," Kazu whispered as the team watched from an alleyway.

They waited for a good ten minutes before, finally, Jeri walked out of the Tavern. "See you later! I'm just going to a friend's house!" the brunette called to her parents just as she was leaving with Elecmon in tow.

Unfortunately, the girl ran into a nearby alley. "Wait! What's she doing?"

And out came a large, white flying bison with six limbs and a massive tail. The quartet and their digimon were stunned.

"What? Since when could she do that?" Kazu fumed.

"That was Appamon, an Armor-level, Vaccine attr-" Kenta read from his digivice before he was rudely cut-off by his angry best friend.

"Still, she shouldn't have been able to do that!"

"Maybe she had the digimental card," Tadashi suggested.

"You should do that to me!" his partner, Coronamon said.

"You can already reach Ultimate," his Tamer shot back, glaring.

"Stupid digivice upgrades!" Kazu shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Well, I guess that was all of that. Ready to go, Guilmon?" Takato asked his partner as he was about to walk off.

"Sure thing, Takato," the dino said. Unfortunately, Kazu decided to grab him by the collar.

"We're not done yet!"

"We're not?" Takato asked, astonished.

"We still need to find her boyfriend. And it turns out she's heading directly west of here. We can take the subway if we need to," Kazu suggested. "Let's go!"

* * *

Later on, while they were on the subway, Kazu checked Jeri's location again. "Let's see… she's in Musashino. What the heck's in Musashino?"

"Her boyfriend," Kenta suggested.

"Other than him!" the visor-wearing tamer shouted.

Suddenly, their digivices started to beep, signifying a nearby bioemergence.

"Guys, there aren't any other Tamers in this area. I think we should go check it out," Takato told the group.

"Okay, next stop, we get off!" Kazu exclaimed, partially frustrated by how everything seemed to get in the way of him finding out the identity of Jeri's boyfriend.

* * *

It turns out, though, that they weren't the only ones headed for that bioemergence. At that very moment, a heavy man on a motorcycle noticed his digivice starting to beep. Thankfully, he had his partner in his in-training form in his backpack. So, at a light he checked the location of the realized digimon, calculated the best route to get there, and then proceeded to head in that direction.

As one of the developers of the current version of the digivice, he had a few things to test out on it as far as the new app system was concerned. Thankfully, as a Tamer, quite possibly the first one, he could test out its various features.

He arrived at the sight of the bioemergence well ahead of the tamers and got off his motorbike. Then he opened his backpack and let his partner, a small, blue dragon named DemiVeemon, out of it.

"Digivolution Activate," the man said, holding out his white digivice and causing his partner to evolve.

"DemiVeemon digivolve to… Veemon!" The digimon was now a larger, stronger version of his in-training form. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"We have an application to test," the heavy man explained.

The two walked into the digital field where there was a large Brachiosaurus-like digimon adjusting itself to its surroundings.

The man's analytical mind went through the steps for a successful contact with a newly-realized digimon. He had had to deal with only a handful of bioemergences in the past, so he felt a little nervous.

Step one: ascertain whether the digimon is hostile or benign. The man wandered over to the digimon, who looked straight at him and hissed.

Just as it started to charge, the man grabbed onto his white digivice and shouted "Digivolution Activate! ExVeemon!"

The first new feature he had developed was the use of alternate digivolution lines. His Veemon usually became Veedramon, but this time he decided to mess around with the ExVeemon line. The digimon he was up against, Brachiomon, was about to charge at him when a white-winged dragon got in between it and his tamer.

"You know, this form isn't nearly as strong as my other one," ExVeemon complained, barely holding onto the enemy digimon.

"Don't worry, you won't have to have that form forever. I'm just doing this for testing purposes."

"Yeah, got it! Great, you're all about testing your newest crap on me, aren't you?"

The man with the ExVeemon realized that his partner was no match for the Ultimate-Level digimon in front of him, so he decided that he had better try a different program to beat him. Thankfully, he and Shibumi realized that the Tamers around the world wouldn't always have access to cards to create blue cards, so they came up with a different solution: crests programs. Each Tamer was assigned a different crest and they had the option of using either a blue card or a crest to reach the Ultimate stage.

The man's crest turned out to be Knowledge.  
"Super Digivolution Activate!" he shouted, causing a purple light to flow out of his digivice.

"ExVeemon Digivolve to… Arresterdramon!" The new form was a dragon with bluish-purple scales and spikes along the back of his head. He also had red chest

armor and yellow gloves and footwear.

"Well now I know: ExVeemon's ultimate form is something named Arresterdramon," the man said, smiling. Thankfully he didn't have to jot anything down on a piece of paper since his digivice already kept track of that information.

As far as the battle was going, Arresterdramon was finally starting to push Brachiomon back. Then the dragon let go of the dinosaur and unleashed a flurry of punches. "Mach Flicker!" This caused Brachiomon to be thrown back even further, falling on its back in the process. Then the enemy digimon turned its head and opened its mouth.

"Brachio Bubble!" it yelled out, unleashing a series of bubbles against Arresterdramon. Thankfully his tamer was out of the way. Arresterdramon responded to the bubbles by simply punching through each one until he made his way to Brachiomon to unleash a final attack.

"Spiral Shredder," he yelled, spinning at high speed and cutting up the enemy digimon. Brachiomon disintegrated into data which started to float off.

"Now, Excess Data Absorption!" the man yelled, holding out his digivice and causing the digital matter to float into it. This new application merely took away the data that wasn't part of Brachiomon's digicore and loaded it into the digivice.

The man looked at the device and noticed the display: _"400 % of Data Required."_

"Looking good. Okay, you can revert to Rookie again, Arresterdramon," the man said with a smile.

The man's partner did so, becoming Veemon again. "You know, I still prefer my normal line but that was kind of fun too."

The man smiled at his partner. "Glad it worked out for you. It's a shame we had to put this one down."

Veemon shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

"Imagine if there were any other Tamers when _you_ emerged, though," the guy said, remembering their first meeting.

The small blue dragon shuddered at the thought. "You've got a point there. Ugh! I don't want to go there." Suddenly, the digimon's eyes grew wide. "Somebody's coming."

"That's strange. There aren't supposed to be any other Tamers in the area." The man looked at the radar screen on his digivice just as the other Tamers came into the junkyard where he was.

* * *

Takato couldn't believe his eyes. First off, there was another tamer in the area, one that he didn't know. He thought he had met all the Tamers in Japan. Then again, the Tamer in question definitely wasn't Japanese. In fact, he looked very European. Another thing was that the man was way older than any other Tamer he had met.

The middle-aged man that Takato's team met was a bit on the heavy side and had curly, black hair and long sideburns. He was wearing a black, leather motorcycle jacket over a white dress shirt and a blue tie along with some dark blue dress slacks. His accent was a bit strange, since he seemed to stress his Japanese words on the second-to-last syllable and roll his R's whenever they appeared at the beginning of words and tap them in the middle, unless the R's came after an N, in which he would roll them up again.

Takato's first guess was that the man was American, since he was speaking to his partner in American English, though he greeted them in his peculiar Japanese.

"Hello," the man said.

"Uh, hey, I thought there weren't any Tamers in this area," Kazu responded.

"I am not from here." The man's Japanese speech also seemed to be overly formal as well.

"You speak English?" Kenta asked.

"Yeah," the man said in English, changing his unsure facial expression to a smile. "Far better than Japanese, at any rate."

"So, I take it you're an American who just moved here," Kazu assumed.

"Nah, I just got a job offer here at a place called Hypnos. I'm actually from Chile."

"Eh, never heard of it. That in Africa or something?" the brown-haired boy said, eliciting a laugh from the man.

"Chile's in South America," Takato told his friend, appalled at the guy's lack of geography knowledge. "So, how old are you?" Takato asked. "And how long have you been a Tamer?"

"I'm 39 and I've been with Veemon for 20 years."

Kazu's eyes lit up at that. "Wow, you must have a lot of cool stories if you've been a Tamer for that long!"

The Chilean laughed. "Yeah, right. To be honest, there were never any bioemergences where I was at, my partner stayed in his Champion form for almost the entire time until recently when I figured out how to get him to Ultimate and I have a really boring home life. So, no, I'm not the experienced one with the cool stories. You guys are. Although there was the D-Reaper invasion, but I really just left town for that one when it hit Santiago."

The Tamers and their partner just stood there with their mouths wide open. "This is crazy!" Tadashi exclaimed.

"What, you mean that we met a tamer from before the Japanese team got their partners and he turned out to be totally boring?" Coronamon asked.

"Pretty much…" Kazu commented.

"Still, I've been working on the Digivice with Shibumi, so we may meet again someday. Vee and I got to go get something to eat, so see you later!" The man said, waving and walking toward his bike.

"Hey, what's your name?!" Takato asked.

"Antonio Guevara! Don't worry, I already know all of yours." The man waved with a grin as he got on his motorcycle and drove off.

* * *

"Antonio… I wonder if there were any more from before us," Takato wondered.

"Maybe we'll get to meet them someday," Guilmon suggested.

"So, are we gonna go find out who Jeri's boyfriend is or what?" Kazu asked. "Watch, she's probably already making out with him on the couch or something!"

"Doubt it," Kenta said. "They have their digimon there, remember?"

"How do you know the guy's a Tamer?" Tadashi asked.

Kazu shrugged.

"Perhaps we should get going right away before it gets dark," Guardromon suggested.

"Agreed," Takato said. "Tadashi, any chance you can get Firamon to hold all of us?"

* * *

Antonio got home to find a surprise waiting for him inside his apartment. His TV was on, even though he never watched it. Walking in, he found a certain black-haired boy sitting on his couch, cruising through channels with his leg on his knee. "Oh, hello, Uncle, how are you today?"

"Ezekiel? What are you doing here?" the curly-haired man asked in total shock.

"Well, it seems that I'm now an exile and since you live here, I figured I'd do that too until I can get back to the States. You don't mind, do you?"

"Does Geraldo know you're here?" the man asked, narrowing his eyes and putting his bag on the ground and letting DemiVeemon come out.

"No, nobody does. Besides, if I entered the States, I'd get arrested as soon as customs caught sight of me. I haven't even had a chance to get a hold of them in a while," Ezekiel said casually.

"I'll let Geraldo know…" the man said, heading toward the phone next to a pile of phone cards.

"Please don't. If you tell dad, then I'm sure that Echelon will be right on me. He pretty much drilled into us that if we did anything illegal, the cops would know," Ezekiel begged, his eyes getting wide as he turned to look at his uncle.

Antonio's eyes twitched as he thought of that.

"So, what did you do that got you stuck here?" DemiVeemon asked, jumping on the lap of his partner's nephew.

"Oh, it's a long story…" Ezekiel said, turning toward the television instantly.

"Tell me everything," Antonio ordered rather gruffly.

Ezekiel chuckled a bit. He was definitely not the protagonist of that story.

* * *

The Tamers of Shinjuku finally reached the apartment building where Jeri was. They went through the lobby, up the elevator to the thirteenth floor where she was and then out the elevator doors just to see Jeri walk into the other elevator.

"Wait, what?" Kazu asked upon seeing those doors close. "We're this close and she's leaving? Did any of you guys remember from the map which apartment she went into?"

Takato shook his head. Yuuji just shrugged. Kenta was the only one to say anything.

"We didn't know we needed to," he said.

"Ah, man, we came all the way over here and we still don't know who Jeri's boyfriend is!" Kazu exclaimed, his voice echoing through the halls.

"Kazu, I worry that your sudden outburst will disturb the tenants in this building," his partner, Guardromon warned him.

"Yeah, you don't want us to get kicked out," Takato agreed.

Just then, the elevator opened again to reveal a sharply-dressed man in a business suit wearing his hair in a ponytail. Takato recognized him immediately. "Mr. Minamoto, I didn't know you lived here!"

"Oh, Takato Matsuki. What brings you to this apartment building?" the man asked in surprise.

"Oh, nothing much. We're trying to find out what a friend of ours is up to."

"Who's this guy?" Tadashi asked in confusion.

"Oh yeah, guys, this is Mr. Minamoto. He's the one in charge of the World Championship Tournament," Takato said, introducing the man.

"What?" Kazu's mouth opened in disbelief.

"He's telling the truth. I've been preparing for the tournament that's going to happen in a couple of weeks. So, Takato, did you decide whether you were going to help with security?" the man inquired with a smiled.

"Sure. I'll be on Summer Break at the time. I just need to ask my parents."

"Wait, security?" Kazu asked. "I want to help!"

"Me too!" Coronamon exclaimed.

"Hey, Coronamon, remember we're going on a trip to Osaka at about that time?" Tadashi told his partner.

"Ah, no fun!"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home. Kazu, you're more than welcome to come to the tournament as security if you want. We need all the help we can get. Here's my card." Mr. Minamoto handed a small business card to the brown-haired boy and wandered down the hall. "Have a nice day," he said while standing in front of his apartment's door.

"Alright, seeya!" the boys said goodbye before going back down the elevator.

Still, one thing came to Koji's mind as he walked into his apartment: what were those kids doing here, exactly?

* * *

Next Chapter: Exile

A/N: Well, there you have it. I hope this was a somewhat decent first chapter for you all. Now, onto a few explanations:

One of the things I'm going to be exploring as far as characters is concerned is the various limitations they have, either self-set or otherwise. For instance, there's Rika, who's set herself apart from her friends because of her fear. Then there's Antonio who feels he can't truly be a part of his team because of his age. Also, there's how he's actually a lot less experienced than a lot of the newer tamers despite how long he's been one (let's face it: if there aren't any bioemergences anywhere else in the world other than Shinjuku, how the heck is he going to develop skills to the level of the other characters). And then there's Ezekiel, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Also, everyone except for Takato, Rika, Henry and Ryo have a limitation in the form of a 'level cap' if you were. I actually stole that from CrazyEight's Tamer's Requiem series, though it's a pretty logical thing as far as the series is concerned.


	2. Exile

Chapter 2: Exile

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, just whatever original characters are in this story.

Thanks to CrazyEight for the beta-reading.

* * *

"_This _is going to be awesome!" Kazu cheered as soon as the other arrived in Shinjuku by train.

"We already know. You've said it like a hundred times already," Kenta told him.

"23 times to be exact," Guardromon indicated.

Takato found himself looking out the window at the town in front of him as they drove past. He only half-listened to his friends' banter.

"What's wrong, Takato?" Guilmon asked.

"Nothing, buddy. I'm… I don't know. I just have this uneasy feeling about the tournament coming up."

"Hey, did you guys hear about what happened in New York at the tournament there?" Hirkokazu asked the group.

"What happened?" Tadashi inquired.

"Just as it was finishing up, an army of brainwashed tamers showed up to capture the tournament champion."

"Brainwashed tamers?" Takato asked in disbelief. "Why would anybody do something like that?"

Kazu shrugged. "There are a lot of crazy people in this world."

"So, how can you be sure that something like that won't happen again at this bigger tournament?" Coronamon asked.

"Maybe that's why they needed the Tamers of Shinjuku! Come on, admit it, we're legendary amongst the rest of the world's Tamers," Kazu said.

"Not to mention, you're the only ones who can reach Mega," Guardromon added.

"Well, at least Takato, Ruki, Jen and Ryo," the brown-haired boy admitted. "You know, I kind of wish I could do that. I did it once, but that was only when we went to the digital world for our partners."

Takato smiled and said, "Don't worry; I'm sure you guys'll get to do it again."

"Yeah, who knows? Maybe some genius programmer for the Digivice will come up with a way. Too bad the rest of the apps on that thing are crap, though."

"That's what happens when you let a bunch of kids have development tools like that," Kenta remarked.

"Yeah, isn't most of what you can get really badly made games?" Tadashi asked. Apparently, some of the few developers there were of the few hundred tamers in the world felt like making their own video games instead of something useful for Taming.

* * *

The next day, Ezekiel had to get up for his first day of school in Japan. He figured that since they had school here, he might as well go there to learn and so he had Mr. Minamoto enroll him in a school. He got up, showered and went to go eat breakfast. His uncle was sitting at the table, eating cereal, while checking out news reports on his laptop. The man was dressed in black dress slacks, a blue shirt and a dark blue tie.

"So, what's going on in the world, these days?" Ezekiel asked, pouring himself a bowl of some random Japanese cereal. He couldn't read the language so he had no idea what the name of it was, just that it had some weird Japanese… thing on the front.

"Not much. So, what are you up to today?"

"School." Ezekiel was wearing a green school uniform.

"You're going to school here? I thought you were supposed to go home in a few weeks."

"I am, but this is for just in case things don't go as planned."

Then Antonio thought of something else. "So, do you know any Japanese?"

"I can say what my name is and good morning. Don't worry, I'll learn. It can't be that hard, can it?"

The large, Chilean man shook his head. This kid was in for a rude surprise.

* * *

Henry knew something was up in his math class when Mr. Tatsuya didn't start teaching right away. He waited a few seconds for the class to calm down.

"Now, I have an announcement to make. We have a new student. I present to you, Ezeki… Ezekieru Ramirezu." The man, after mangling Ezekiel's name, gestured for the boy to come in.

"Konnichi wa. Watashi wa Ezekiel desu." What he said was: "Good afternoon. I am Ezekiel." Unfortunately for him, it was morning. Because of this, some of the kids chuckled.

"Now, Ezekiel, would you like to take a seat next to Henry over there. He's the one with the dark hair." After Ezekiel looked at him in confusion, the teacher repeated what he said but in heavily accented English. Ezekiel went and sat down in his chair and listened as the teacher gave the class a lecture in rapid-fire Japanese.

"You don't understand much Japanese, do you?" Henry asked the other boy in fairly good English.

"Not a word."

"Yeah, you said 'good afternoon' earlier."

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow. "How do you say good morning?"

"Ohayou" Henry told him.

"Oh, okay, just like the state. So, how do you like High School?"

Henry smiled. "I like it a lot. It's definitely easier than middle school was."

A the same time, Henry didn't know what to do about Ezekiel's other issues. Still, he thought of a way he could help the new guy. "If you want, I could teach you some Japanese."

"Please do. I'll need it to survive here."

Henry couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. How did the school system here mess up his records like that?

* * *

At lunch, Henry had Ezekiel sit with him and most of the other Tamers. "Hey, so you're the new guy. The name's Takato Matsuki." Takato said in surprisingly good English. This was somewhat ironic since Ezekiel had heard from his brother who heard from someone else who had supposedly met the Japanese Tamers that he didn't speak any English. Apparently the kid worked hard at improving his command of the language over the past two years.

"Ezekiel Guevara Ramirez." Ramirez was actually his mother's maiden name, but Koji had him go by it in the info he gave to the school so that Echelon didn't track him. Of course, a large percentage of Hispanics had two last names, so it kind of worked, especially since the maiden name came last.

"So, where are you from? The United States or Canada?" Kenta asked.

"Mexico," Ezekiel said flatly, surprising everyone. "Kidding. I'm from the States. Specifically Nevada. I only lived there for about six months though and I'm originally from California, specifically Oxnard."

The others were silent for a few seconds before Taizou, a brown-haired boy, decided to ask a question. "Where the heck's Oxnard?"

Of course, nobody's ever heard of Oxnard… "It's a bit to the west of Los Angeles."

Then Takato decided to ask another question, bringing to mind the names of two of the Tamers they had met a couple of years earlier. "So, since you live in America, do you know the… hmm… the McCloskeys, Jacob and Steven?"

Ezekiel shook his head. "Their names don't ring a bell."

"How about Kyle Dibenko?" Kazu just blurted out.

"The United States is a big country. I doubt he's even heard of him," Henry told the brown-haired boy.

The group saw Ezekiel's left eye twitch a little bit. "We've met."

"No way!" Takato, Kazu, Kenta and Henry exclaimed. Kyle was a Tamer that the group met in the Digital World a couple of years earlier while they went and got their partners, along with the McCloskey brothers. The Americans even went back to the real world with them.

"Were you guys like on the same team or something?" Kazu asked as Ezekiel took a bite out of his sandwich. The boy remained silent for a second before answering.

"We were. However, we didn't really get to work together that much." That was all they were getting out of him.

"So you _are _a Tamer," Henry said, reaching the same conclusion as the others in the group.

"What's your partner?" Kazu inquired.

"Dobermon," Ezekiel replied. After seeing the shocked looks on the faces of his fellow tamers around the table, he asked "What about it?"

"There was a girl with a Dobermon who gave us the power to reach Mega," Takato responded.

Ezekiel scratched his chin. "Interesting. All of you?"

"Takato, Henry and a girl named Ruki. Then there was Ryo who could somehow do it here after staying in the digital world for a really long time," Kenta explained. "The rest of us are all stuck at Ultimate except for me."

"Well, that explains why I haven't heard of any Tamers out there other than you reaching that stage except by Dark Digivolution or unless they were in the Digital World."

Then Henry asked something. "What brings you to Japan?"  
"It's a long story," he said simply, not bothering to give any sort of answer. The others noticed this sort of vagueness. Because of that, they had their suspicions.

Unfortunately, they didn't have a chance to voice them when Jeri came into the room along with a purple-haired girl named Miki and a blond girl with pigtails named Ayaka. Ezekiel locked eyes with the brunette. "Jeri Katou. I had no idea you lived in Shinjuku."

"Uh, Ezekiel, right?" the girl asked as the trio went and sat down.

"Wow, so this is the new guy from America, huh?" Ayaka asked. "He's kind of cute!"

"So, are you single or taken?" Miki inquired.

He knew that they were just flirting with him because he was a foreigner. "Single, permanently. Why?"

"Wait, you and Jeri know each other?" Kazu asked.

"We've met. I stayed at her boyfriend's apartment for a few days before moving in with my uncle."

The brown-haired boy's eyes narrowed as a mischievous grin graced his face. "What's her boyfriend's name?"

Ezekiel took a deep breath. Jeri looked a bit frightened. "His name…" Ezekiel started to say.  
"Yeah, who is he?" Yuji asked with a massive grin on his face. He had long brown hair. "The only reason we found out he even existed was because she told Ayaka and Miki."

"Kentaro Takaishi," Ezekiel finally blurted out as Jeri fainted. He didn't know why the girl was so adamant about keeping her relationship a secret from the others. Then again, maybe she was afraid of what would happen if her parents found out. Ezekiel wasn't afraid of people, but he did find them perplexing sometimes.

"Yeah right!" Kazu exclaimed. "That's the name of the blond guy from the third season of Digimon. Why don't you give us his real name?"

The black-haired American adjusted his circular sunglasses and smiled. "I have my reasons," he simply said, watching the other girls pick up Jeri, who was starting to regain consciousness. These Japanese kids were pretty entertaining, even if their command of the English language wasn't perfect. Then again, it was surprising for him to find so many who could speak it in the first place.

Henry finally decided to get up, dragging Takato with him by the arm. "Just a second, Takato and I need to talk about something."

The Chinese boy dragged Takato out into the hallway before he started speaking again. "Don't you find this new guy a bit suspicious?"

"Yeah, I know. There are a lot of things about him that don't add up like why he left and why he didn't move in with his uncle in the first place."

Henry pulled out his digivice and loaded the holographic screen. After pressing a few buttons, he brought up the Rogue Tamer Alert app, which showed information on a number of Tamers wanted for various reasons by organizations like Echelon and Hypnos. He searched through a few of the most wanted, going past some names such as Eduardo Diaz and Cletus Jurgemeyer. Then he found Ezekiel's name on the list as Ezequiel Guevara. He brought it up, figuring that it must have been his legal name or something. His face showed up.

"He's on the Rogue Tamer registry for Echelon," Henry said. "So, what should we do?"

"You just had to ask," Takato mumbled. "We'll just keep an eye on him for now. If he does anything real suspicious, then we'll take action. What did he do?"

Henry showed Takato the screen and the boy grimaced. "He also apparently teamed up with a renegade named… Osamu Ichijouji? That can't be right..."

Takato was kind of curious about the reward at first, but upon hearing the name of another one of the characters from the third season of Digimon, he was more interested in that. "Look up Osamu."

"Okay, I'm trying to bring him up. Ah, here he is. He's apparently in Echelon's custody. Also, he manipulated a number of the Tamer of Vegas under the guise of Blaine. Then he appeared during the national tournament and had a battle with one of the Tamers of Vegas, a girl by the name of Marika Dvorak. She defeated him by digivolving her partner, Darcmon, into Sanzomon. According to this, Osamu apparently had enough Data in his system to biomerge and he had a different model of digivice than us. He also claimed to be the character from the show when he went under interrogation."

Takato thought about it for a second. "You know, if he was simply manipulated by this Osamu guy, then maybe he's not such a bad guy. I mean, what he did actually reminds me a bit of Rika's attitude when we first met. We should definitely keep an eye on him, though, at least until we find out exactly what he's up to. You know, yesterday I met someone named Antonio Guevara who was also a Tamer. I wonder if he's the uncle Ezekiel mentioned."

"Antonio works at Hypnos."

Takato's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" Henry nodded.

"Though… that guy's like forty. How is he a Tamer?"

Takato scratched his head. "I don't know any specifics. He took care of an Ultimate yesterday and he said he was partnered to Veemon for like twenty years. Then he said he wasn't nearly as experienced as any of us because he didn't have any bio-emergences to deal with most of that time. It's really weird."

Henry scratched his chin. "Yeah, we definitely need to watch out for these guys, especially Ezekiel. I can focus on Ezekiel, since I agreed to teach him some Japanese."

"Alright, good. Maybe I can look into Hypnos' policy on rogues from other countries."

Henry thought that would be a good idea. "I wonder why we weren't notified of him when he came here. Hypnos monitors Tamer activity in Japan and there was that one time a few months ago when that other guy came through."

"Him? What was his name again?" Takato asked.

"Eduardo Diaz, if I remember right. He just came and left. Maybe Hypnos doesn't see Ezekiel as much of a threat. We didn't even end up meeting Eduardo since he was only in Japan for a few days at most."

"And Hypnos still had us going after him." Takato remembered that well. This tamer, Eduardo Diaz, just came out of nowhere one night and went through Tokyo. Because of that, Hypnos called everyone, waking them up so they could go after the guy. Somehow, he escaped. It was the only time Hypnos got so riled up about a foreign Tamer coming to Japan.

That made Takato wonder what exactly it was that the guy did. He never got around to looking up information on him.

"Let's just deal with him cautiously," Takato finally said, eliciting a nod from Henry.

* * *

After school, Ezekiel agreed to go to Henry's apartment so that the Chinese tamer could show him a few things. First off, though, they stopped by the apartment he was staying in to pick up Dobermon. Henry didn't find the apartment very interesting. It was very Spartan and it seemed that the only thing to drink in the fridge was beer and hard lemonade. Then the duo headed to Henry's place.

"Hi, Henry, how was school today?" he was greeted by his younger sister, Suzie, as the two of them walked into the apartment. "And who is this guy?"

"He doesn't speak any Japanese so you have to practice your English on him," Henry told his sister as Ezekiel and Dobermon entered into the living room.

"My name is Suzie," she told Ezekiel in English, holding out her hand to shake his. He accepted.

"It's nice to meet you," he replied with a smile. "This is Dobermon."

The dog was silent.

"Yeah, he doesn't talk much."

"No kidding!" Terriermon exclaimed, jumping onto the poor digimon's back. "Why don't you lighten up a bit?!"

"Get off me," Dobermon growled.

"You don't want to get him mad. So, Henry, you said that you knew someone else with a Dobermon. Whatever happened to her?" Ezekiel asked the Chinese boy as he walked into his room.

"We don't know. Her name was Alice. Strangely enough, Rob McCoy has a granddaughter by that name who matches the description we gave to Hypnos. However, she's in a coma."

Ezekiel was perplexed and had his hand on his chin. "Strange…"

"So, what do you want to do?" Henry asked.

"I did all my homework in school, except for the work for Japanese class. Shouldn't your school have a program for non-native students?"

"We really don't have that many," Henry said. The Chinese boy was very tempted to bring up Osamu Ichijouji with Ezekiel, but he didn't know how he would react. True, he had his martial arts to use in case everything went awry, but he realized it would be a bad idea.

"Do you have a large family?" Ezekiel asked as Henry sat down at his computer desk. The American tamer sat down on his bed.

"Yeah, I have three siblings: two sisters and a brother. You?"

"Two brothers, one older, one younger. I have the unfortunate circumstances of being a middle child."

"I know what you mean," Henry responded.

"So, what do you do for fun?" Ezekiel asked as Henry loaded up his computer.

"A little bit of everything. I have some online games I like to play and I also dabble in programming. There's a game engine I found called RPG Developer I've been messing around with."  
"Hmm… Intriguing."

"You like programming?" Henry asked.

"That's something my younger brother likes messing around with. He's a crazy computer whiz."

Henry thought of something that he probably shouldn't ask and one that he knew the answer to already. "So, how come the rest of your family didn't come here with you?"

"It's a long story," the black-haired boy said before deciding to dodge the subject. "How about you teach me a bit more Japanese, you know so I can actually greet your family when they all come home?"

"Okay, I'll teach you how to construct a few basic sentences."

About an hour later, Mayumi came into the room to get the two boys for dinner. Ezekiel was thankful for the interruption to his studies of the Japanese language since he was developing a fierce headache. It wasn't that Henry wasn't a good teacher, he was excellent at it. It was just that Ezekiel had so much information getting stuffed into his mind that he need a serious break. That, and the language was so different than English.

Dinner was pretty calm. It turned out that at least Janyu could speak English, so he had a good conversation with him.

"Your uncle just started work at Hypnos, didn't he?" the Chinese man asked.

"Yeah," Ezekiel responded.

"He's a really nice guy. I actually like him better than the Digimon Researcher we had before him."

"Well, that's good," Ezekiel responded.

"We actually knew each other in college. Kind of. He was in the Computer Science department with us and he happened to be the roommate of a friend of ours, Gorou Mizuno. I'm not sure if you've met him or not."

"No, I haven't. I don't know most of my uncle's friends."

It was kind of funny. Ezekiel noticed a massive difference between his family's dinners and this one's. For one thing, everything was a lot calmer and they weren't fighting over the food. Also, they weren't watching Jeopardy or the news while eating either.

Ezekiel felt a little sad remembering his family. He thought of his father and that ridiculous moustache that he hated so much and how the big man was so supportive despite how two of his sons were tamers. Then there were his two brothers. The black-haired boy wished he didn't have to run away so quickly. There was a part of him that told him that he was a coward for doing so.

The boy got up and was about to go to the bathroom to avoid having the others see the tears come down his face just as his digivice started to beep along with Henry's and Suzie's.

"We've got another one," Suzie said. "You ready, Lopmon?"

"Sure!"

Henry was ready as well, and so was Terriermon. "Come on, what are we waiting for? Let's go already!" the small dog-bunny exclaimed.

"Terriermon…"  
"Alright, let's go," Ezekiel said.

"Right!" was Dobermon's one-word response.

* * *

The trio of Tamers and their partners ran out the building. "What kind of Digimon are we dealing with?" Henry asked into his cell-phone.

_"It seems like an Ultimate-level," _Yamaki responded. _"Somehow it managed to break through the barriers." _It seemed like they were getting an Ultimate-level digimon each day. Because of that, the Chinese Tamer wouldn't have been surprised if the barriers got weaker from all these bio-emergences.

The three of them reached the digital field which was right inside the park. _Is it just me, or do Digimon like parks, _Ezekiel mused to himself.

They entered into the dome of fog and moved forward. Then Ezekiel gasped in shock at the digimon in front of him.

The digimon was a tall, humanoid dog with black fur, grey pants covered in black armor on the sides and large, grey, mechanical gloves covering his fists. The digimon also had mechanical feet, a jetpack with wings on the back and a black sash with a yellow symbol on the front. Henry took out his digivice but Ezekiel knew exactly what it was.

"BlackMachGaogamon, Ultimate Level, Virus Attribute. This is a digimon that had the mysterious secretion Black Digitron mixed in with it while he was evolving. Although his speed is lower than the regular MachGaogamon, it can achieve greater flight duration."

"Of course. The Dark Digivolved form of Diego's partner digimon…" Ezekiel mumbled. Then again, he has learned to accept things that he could not change, and he couldn't change that fact. He pulled out his digivice and allowed it to glow a golden color. "Are you ready, Dobermon?"

"Wait!" Henry said. "We have to determine if this guy's hostile, first."

_Of course! That was Kyle's routine. He must have gotten it from them. _He chose to respect the other Tamer's judgment, even though he knew it to be faulty in regards to this digimon.

"We come in peace. What are you doing in this world?"

BlackMachGaogamon turned to Henry. "My reasons to come to this world are mine alone." The digimon then aimed at the Chinese tamer with his fist, pulled it back and was about to fire an attack when he heard Ezekiel yell something out.

"Super Digivolution Activate!" he shouted, causing a golden light to come out and strike Dobermon.

"Dobermon digivolve to… Cerberumon!"

The digimon's form changed from a one-headed dog to a black, three-headed beast with three knife-like claws on his arms and legs as well as silver hair coming from the back of the central head.

This was one of the first few times that Ezekiel managed to digivolve his partner to this level. He was one of the first Tamers of Vegas to do so as well. He did so using the Destiny crest program inside his digivice. It was kind of ironic, since he didn't even believe in fate. He just accepted the things he couldn't change and worked on the things he could. That was how he activated the crest.

"Emerald Blaze!" Cerberumon yelled, unleashing a stream of green fire against BlackMachGaogamon as he tried to attack, forcing him to abort the technique he was attempting to execute.

"Unfortunately, BlackMachGaogamon, it is our business what you do here in this world," Ezekiel told the large digimon. "I know someone who has a partner much like you. Since you're dealing with us like this, you can't possibly be up to any good. So tell us, what are you doing here?"  
"He has a puny, regular MachGaogamon?"

"Well, as far as I know, he hasn't reach the Ultimate-"

"Just shut up!" BlackMachGaogaomon interrupted, before turning upward to leave. Henry noticed this and slid a blue card.

"Terriermon digivolve to… Rapidmon!"

The large, green, cybernetic rabbit flew upwards after BlackMachGaogamon, catching up with him and getting right in front of him. "Rapid Fire!" he yelled, shooting a pair of missiles from the ports where his hands would normally be and striking at BlackMachGaogamon at point-blank range.

"Rapidmon, aim for the wings and bring him down here!" Henry ordered into his digivice while watching the battle through both his partner's eyes and from the ground.

The enemy digimon pulled his usable fist back and aimed at Rapidmon. "Winning Knuckle!" The Rabbit was faster than the cyborg wolf and dodged it while preparing for an attack of his own.

"Homing Missile!" A series of rockets flew out of the magazines on Rapidmon's back, heading towards BlackMachGaogamon. The cybernetic wolf tried to dodge but a series of Rapidmon's missiles managed to hit him on the wings, sending him tumbling downwards.

"You ready, Lopmon?" Suzie asked her partner, eliciting a nod from the small bunny.

"Lopmon digivolve to… Antylamon!" The tall, slender rabbit moved forward, transforming her arms into axes, and aimed them right at BlackMachGaogamon as soon as the large wolf fell to the ground in a heap. "Treasure Axe!"

Just as she sliced into their lupine enemy, Cerberumon moved in for a strike of his own. "Emerald Blaze!" The combination of the two attacks completely decimated BlackMachGaogamon, causing him to disintegrate into data.

Suddenly, most of those data particles moved in a different direction, leading to the white digivice of a certain Antonio Guevara. "455 %" he read from the digivice's screen. "Not bad."

The Japanese tamers looked at him in confusion. "This, Henry, is my Uncle, Antonio," Ezekiel attempted to explain.

"We've met," Henry said. "Just what are you doing?"

"Data collection," the large, middle-aged man replied. "I'm still working out the kinks in the system, though. It's not quite optimized, yet, though I'm trying to prevent the collection of data used to reform a digi-egg."

Ezekiel raised his eyebrow. "My uncle the mad scientist. I'd ask what that data collection is for but I know you'd give me a vague answer."

"Actually, I'd just say that it was a surprise. So, how's my crazy nephew behaving?" Antonio asked Henry.

The Chinese boy smiled. "He's behaving himself. So far, I have no complaints. I've been trying to teach him Japanese."

_It's such an evil language, _Ezekiel thought to himself, dreading the thought of any more of that.

"Yeah, trying," Terriermon said, having de-digivolved shortly after the battle finished. "That guy can barely even say any complete sentences in the language!"

"Terriermon…" Henry chided his partner.

"What? It's true!"

"Give him time," Antonio said before turning to his nephew. "So, Ezekiel, are you coming home tonight or what?"

"I might as well," Ezekiel said before turning to Henry and his sister. "Thank you for having me over. It was fun."  
"Sure, anytime," the Chinese boy responded. "See you later."

"Sayonara!" Suzie said, waving as the new arrival and his partner walked away.

* * *

"So, how was your day?" Antonio asked as the two of them entered into the apartment with their partners.

"It was nice. Unfortunately, someone screwed up and I'm currently two grade levels behind where I'm supposed to be."

Antonio shook his head. "Shame on you. That's what you get for using illegal means to alter your records. I sure hope you rethink what you're planning on doing. Even if you change your information in Echelon's database, people will still remember what you did."

"Yeah, and what you did was low!" Veemon told him before receiving a knock on the head from Antonio.

"Well, anyway, I'm off to bed," Antonio said as he walked to his room, undoing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt in the process while Veemon followed suit.

Ezekiel took a deep breath before turning to his partner. "You think I'm doing the right thing, Dobermon?"

"I'm not so sure," the canine responded. Ezekiel decided he wanted to check a few things out on the internet so he walked over to the dining table where his uncle's laptop was. He loaded AIM and logged on; curious about whether anyone else was online. To his surprise, his old friend Chris's screen name was up. He didn't feel like talking, so he didn't click on it, instead opting to look at a few things online.

On his way to clicking the shortcut for the internet browser he was going to use, he noticed a strange folder titled 'Unaired Episodes'. Out of curiosity, he clicked it to find the scripts to all the unaired episodes of the third season of Digimon, translated to English. Scrolling down, he found some interesting titles such as 'Rise, Anubimon. The Emperor Revealed' and 'Tamers' Descendent, Yahiko Joins,' both indicating that apparently new team members were slated to join as well as the conclusion of the whole 'Second Emperor' subplot that had been building up throughout the series.

Unfortunately, among the titles was a bizarre one. The second to the last script was 'A Hero's End! The Death of Ezekiel Guevara.'

"What kind of crap is this?" was Ezekiel's shocked response. The very last script was titled 'Ragnarok! The Final Battle Begins!' As interested as Ezekiel was about looking at the scripts, he couldn't get over the previous episode's name. Somehow, he knew it was talking about him. That was a point in which he came face to face with his own mortality. Still, a part of him wanted to find out who the Second Emperor was.

His thoughts were interrupted by AOL Instant Messenger popping up. Looking at the message, he noticed it was from his friend in Vegas.

**What's up? Where have u been?**

Ezekiel cursed the fellow teenager's use of 'u' instead of 'you', but he typed in a response, anyway.

**Around. How have you been?**

In response, Chris sent another message.

**Good. Everyone's worried about u, u know. Wut happened?**

_Didn't this guy ever hear what happened to me from my brother? _

**I made a big mistake. I'll come back as soon as I can sort it all out. **Ezekiel typed out. Then he followed up with another message: **I have to go to bed now. I have school in the morning.**

** Bed? It's morning right now!**

Of course, how could Ezekiel have forgotten about the time difference? Still, he exited AIM and shut the computer down. He figured he'd leave his friend for another day.

How he wished he could go back home.

* * *

Next chapter: A Thief in the Night

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. I'm a bit wary about writing almost an entire chapter focusing on an OC, but I think it came out alright. At least it established him fully as a character (though I had to edit out what he did). The next chapter will actually focus on Rika and the other girls without Ezekiel or Antonio showing up (for the most part).

Yes, there are plans for Eduardo. Who is he? What did he do? Also, Koji, Osamu and Kentaro and the third member of their little group (people who have read The Empty World will know who she is, though not how she's connected to the other OCs introduced so far).


	3. A Thief in the Night

Chapter 3: A Thief in the Night

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Also, thanks to CrazyEight for the beta of this chapter. It wouldn't have been as good without his help.

* * *

A blond boy ran through the halls of the university, hoping to catch his quarry. Finally, he reached the room where he needed to go, where his bounty was. His partner digimon, a small, red dragon with a v-shaped head followed him. The two were prepared for anything.

The person they were pursuing was facing away from them, looking at a stack of books. He had messy black hair that looked as if it hadn't been washed in a while.

"So, we meet again," the person sitting down said, not bothering to turn his head.

"You are under arrest for…" the blond started to say before getting rudely interrupted. It looked like collecting that reward for taking down this guy was going to be delayed.

"We should stop meeting like this. It isn't good for our friendship, you know," the person sitting down said matter-of-factly.

The blond grimaced. "Friendship?"

"Yeah, what do you mean by that?" the red digimon next to the boy asked in surprise that their opponent would. "You guys weren't friends!"

"Heck, we never even worked together!" the blond added.

"No, Shoutmon, we weren't," the black-haired teen said, leaning back in his chair and not bothering to turn around. "Just playing with your head, that's all. Just trying to see a reaction…"

"Really? Well, guess what?" The blond said. "Every Tamer from across California has been notified that you're here and they're going to be converging on this university within the next little bit. The Tamers of San Francisco, I hear, are very willing to take the sizable reward for your capture, so just surrender right now. Do the right thing."

"Right and wrong. Don't they vary from person to person? Isn't everything relative? How are you sure you're doing the right thing by apprehending me?"

The blond rolled his eyes. He's just about had enough of this guy and really wanted to shut his trap. "Shoutmon?"

"Yeah?"

"Knock him out."

Before the digimon could so much as move toward the rogue, something came through far faster than either of the Echelon agents could see and their quarry disappeared. Andrew panicked, pulling out his blue digivice with a red ring to check on the location of the rogue. He was traveling at an impossible speed, headed straight for the Mexican border. Out of curiosity, the blond tamer went to where the boy was sitting and looked at what he was looking at.

"Man, that guy stinks!" Shoutmon exclaimed.

Andrew was trying his best not to pay attention to the smell. The rogue they were after had apparently not bathed in weeks. Instead, he looked over the yearbooks the other boy was poring over, ranging from the years 1984 to '87. Looking at the '84 one, he saw a picture of the Monster Makers along with the rest of the computer science department. The others had mostly the same thing, except for the 1987 yearbook, which had the computer science department, but no Monster Makers. The pages also had grime from the rogue's fingers, something that made the blond hesitant to touch them.

Andrew couldn't figure out what the '87 yearbook had in common with the others or why it would matter to the other tamer. Still, he picked up his cell and called his superiors in Echelon. "Hey, this is Andrew. I apprehended Eduardo Diaz, but he got away. I think he came to Palo Alto to look up information regarding the creators of Digimon…"

* * *

Rika was having a nice relaxing day with her friends: Jeri, Miki and Ayaka. Everything seemed to be going smoothly and the girls were having a nice time doing things with their digimon in tow. Miki's partner was Gatomon, a large, white cat with a big head and large ears. Ayaka's was Syakomon, a purple-shelled mollusk digimon with a soft, green center.

"So, what movie are we going to see today?" Rika asked stoically with slight fear that the girls were going to take her to a chick flick.

"I hear the new Spider-man movie's out this weekend," Jeri suggested.

"Spider-man?" Ayaka asked before suggesting something else. "How about this new movie called 'Lovers in Paradise'? It looks so romantic!"

Rika looked at the others before stating her decision all while resisting the urge to gag. "Nah, I'd rather go see Spider-man."

"You know, it seems like we go see a chick flick every weekend, anyway, so that might be a good one to go to instead," Renamon said in agreement.

"I kind of agree. Scratch that, I agree 100%!" Elecmon exclaimed from Jeri's arm, obviously dreading the thought of surviving another girly date movie.

"Oh, but have you seen what the main lead looks like?" Miki asked the others.

"He's so dreamy. He reminds me of Ezekiel," Ayaka added, putting her hands on her face and swooning over the boy that wasn't currently around.

Rika wasn't convinced largely because she hadn't even heard of the newcomer. "Who the heck's Ezekiel?"

"A new boy in our class," Jeri clarified. "He just moved here from America. He's also a Tamer with a Dobermon."

"An Ezekiel with a Dobermon, huh? You're not talking about Ezekiel Guevara, are you?" Rika asked in clear suspicion.

"Yeah, why?"

Renamon said the next part. "He's currently wanted by Echelon for certain… transgressions."

"What did he do?" Ayaka asked with a little bit of fear in her voice.

"He attempted to delete the digimon partner of another one of the local Tamers as well as conspire with a known terrorist," Renamon continued. She and Rika paid attention to the wanted information posted by the various organizations around the world that were in charge of monitoring Digimon as well as the various Tamers that were stationed in their respective jurisdictions. It turned out that Echelon had quite a few under their supervision, working to maintain the peace and balance between the two worlds.

"From what I remember, the other Tamer objected to him destroying a bio-emerged digimon," Rika said. "He went ahead anyway, and severely injured the digimon, who only survived by de-digivolving back to his rookie form. After that, he attacked the partner digimon of the Tamer in question. I don't know all the details, but apparently he was being manipulated by another Tamer who claimed to be Osamu Ichijouji from the third season of the TV show."

"That is so weird," Jeri commented.

"So the guy's an outlaw?" Miki asked, but not with concern. "That makes him even more irresistible!"

"That's a big turn off for me," Ayaka objected, deciding that it would be best for her to stay away from bad boys. "You can have him."

Rika couldn't resist chuckling a little bit. These girls tended to think too much about boys, not that the red-head didn't find them attractive. Every so often, her eyes would wander, but at the moment she wasn't interested in a relationship.

However, before going any further towards the theater, the quartet's digivices started to beep. "Oh, no, not another digimon..." Syakomon complained

"Let's go take care of it!" Gatomon exclaimed, jumping out of her partner's arms. The group headed toward the dome of mist that formed in a densely populated area of the city.

"What do you think it is this time?" Miki asked.

"Let's find out!" Ayaka exclaimed as the girls entered into the digital field. Inside was a large, lumbering digimon with white skin, chains and leather on his body. The humanoid digimon had a metal mask and hair going every which way. It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was.

"SkullMeramon, Ultimate Level, Data Attribute," Rika recited from memory. "Ready, Renamon?" The red-head pulled out a card which quickly turned blue.

"Certainly," the fox responded as her partner slid the card through her digivice. Miki and Ayaka were doing the same.

"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

"Renamon digivolve to… Taomon!"

"Gatomon digivolve to… Angewomon!"

"Syakomon digivolve to… Calimaramon!"

The three digimon only digivolved as a precaution so that Rika could inquire of the digimon's true motive.

"Hello, I am Rika from Hypnos and I have to do a little inquiry. What brings you to the human world, SkullMeramon?" The hulking man of fire turned toward her and raised up his fist to generate flame. Seeing this, Taomon formed a shield around her and Rika just in time for a white fireball to hit against it. "Figures… Go all out!"

* * *

Meanwhile, up on the rooftops, someone watched the ensuing battle. He noticed that the brunette didn't participate, perhaps out of fear of losing the partner she held so dear once again. It was such a weakness. This was despite having enough data from the D-Reaper nourishing her while holding her captive to potentially digivolve to mega. After all, the only way she was kept alive at the time was by means of the digital matter that the digital abomination fed into her.

One of five, scratch that, six if one includes Kenta's partner that could reach the stage and yet she squandered it. The teenager that watched shook his head at the waste of potential that she had while he couldn't even reach the stage, a fact that made him angry.

But that was for another time. For now he would have to work in the shadows before he could even attempt to dispose of these Tamers and their partners.

SkullMeramon proved to be far tougher than the Tamers expected. First, the digimon was constantly using his white flames to hide himself from the digimons' views, giving himself an advantage that he sorely needed against his three opponents. Then there was the onslaught of collateral damage he attempted to inflict on the populace of Shibuya, the area of Tokyo where the Tamers were currently at, something that the digimon he was battling had to be wary of.

"Great, can't this guy stop?" Calimaramon asked in her creaky voice. "Why is it that every digimon that comes to our world turns out to be psychotic?"

"You tell me," Angewomon said before creating a pink ribbon of energy and unleashing it at SkullMeramon. "Heaven's Charm!" The enemy digimon managed to hold off the attack by holding his armored arms in front of his head. Then SkullMeramon began to glow.

"Taomon, please don't tell me this guy's going to do what I think he is," Rika told her partner.

"Unfortunately, Rika, he appears to be digivolving."

The red-head absolutely couldn't believe it. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"SkullMeramon digivolve to…" glowed brightly as a ring of fractal code formed around him along with a sphere of energy. Then he broke out of that sphere as a whole new digimon. "Boltmon!" Boltmon's noticeable features were his green skin, his face mask and a massive axe on his back.

"Rika, we have to biomerge," Taomon told her partner.

"Yeah, I know! Biomerge activate!" she shouted while holding her digivice in front of her. Nothing happened. Takato just biomerged a week before, so what gives? It's not like she doesn't have enough data in her system anymore.

Something else was blocking her ability. She looked around and noticed a couple of figures on the roof of a nearby building watching before they quickly disappeared. She wondered who they were.

Turning back to the enemy digimon in front of her, she said: "I guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way. Ready, Taomon?"

"Certainly," the fox said.

"Okay, everybody, concentrate your strongest attacks on Boltmon!" Rika shouted to the other digimon.

Miki and Ayaka both slid cards to increase their partners' attack power as quickly as they could. Just as the allied digimon were starting to attack, Boltmon shot forward. "Acid Ink!" Calmaramon shouted, spitting a black shot of ink at the digimon. The attack hit him directly, causing severe burns all over his body. Still, he kept on going.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon yelled, shooting an arrow of energy at Boltmon. The digimon finally stood still, writhing in pain.

"Talisman of Light!" Taomon shouted, using her brush to create a symbol which moved forward and struck the enemy digimon, but not before the digimon unleashed an attack of his own.

"Battle Tomahawk!" The enemy digimon tossed his axe straight at Taomon, striking her in the side just as he was deleted by the fox's attack. Boltmon's data flew away as Rika's partner de-digivolved back into her rookie form, severely injured and flickering. Upon seeing this, Rika ran over to her partner in panic.

"Renamon!" The poor fox seemed to be on the verge of deletion. "Quick! We need to get to Hypnos!"

"We can take Appamon," Jeri said with urgency in her voice.

"Hurry up and do it!" the red-head shouted as Jeri slashed her Digi-egg of Light card through her D-Arc.

"Digi-modify, Armor Digivolution!"

"Elecmon armor digivolve to… Appamon!" The group boarded the large, white bison and onto the carriage on his back. Immediately Appamon flew off towards Hypnos.

* * *

On the same rooftop where he was earlier, the figure watched the Armor digimon fly off. "An armor digivolution of a digimon that's not known for it, huh? That figures."

Thinking about what happened earlier, he realized the girl tried to biomerge with her partner. _Figures, those tamers probably don't remember what it's like to not have that power. _He clenched his fist at the thought. _One day, they'll be brought down to my level or lower while I rise above them!_

Then he noted where the tamers were headed.

_It looks like I'm going to have company when I execute the first of my plans tonight._

The teenage boy smiled a little bit at the thought. This was going to be more fun than he thought.

* * *

Rika, Jeri, Miki and Ayaka rushed Renamon into the emergency care section of the section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building reserved for Hypnos. In turn, the yellow fox was loaded into a tube where she was fed residual data that existed in the atmosphere. Her wounds slowly closed up, but not too quickly.

"Great, how could this happen?" Rika asked no one in particular. Jeri and Elecmon stood by along with the other two girls and their partners.

"Don't worry, you had no idea it would happen," Ayaka said. "I was pretty surprised too when SkullMeramon became Boltmon."

"No, not that. I tried to biomerge…"

"Oh," the others gasped.

"Wait, you mean you couldn't?" Gatomon inquired.

"That's so weird," Miki said.

Rika sighed and then walked over to a bench to sit down. She glanced inside the ICU to see Renamon's wounds still opened, though not looking as bad as they did. _I guess I know where I'm going to be the rest of the day, _she thought. It was always nerve-wracking to have a critically injured partner. Thankfully, it only happens every so often, but when it does, everything seems to go down the tubes. Even though Shibumi did set up a Village of Beginnings program in the digital world to solve its population problem a couple years earlier, there was no guarantee that if anyone's partner got deleted, its data would arrive in the digital world and reform into a new digimon there. Jeri was one of the lucky ones.

Rika's ears twitched when she heard the elevator open and a trio of fellow Tamers enter into the lobby of the ICU. She recognized them as Ryouma, Ren and Airu. Upon seeing them, the red-head got up and faced the silver-haired tamer that she helped to get past being a novice.

"Hello, Rika. I heard about what happened and came straight here," Ryouma said. "Is everything…"

"Yeah, for now, everything's alright. Renamon was injured in a battle against a Mega-level digimon but she should be okay."

Upon hearing that, Ryouma's concern only intensified. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, don't worry. We didn't… actually, I couldn't biomerge." Then she remembered the figure on the nearby rooftop and her eyes narrowed. "Guys, we have to scan the area for a potential rogue Tamer."

"What?" Everyone gasped.

Rika didn't say anything further. She just entered into the Hypnos computer room. "Yamaki, are there any unusual digivice readings in Japan right now?"

The blond scratched his head. He wasn't one to take a Tamer's concerns lightly. "Riley, Tally, do a sweep."

"Okay," Riley said, typing in a few commands on her keyboard. "I'm not detecting anything, sir."

"What are the locations of any known rogue tamers?" Rika asked.

"Ezekiel Guevara is the closest, currently in Shinjuku. Since he's D-Ranked, we don't see him of any consequence," Tally explained. "It looks like he has been in Shinjuku for the past few hours. Other than that… It looks like Mikhail Asimov, B-Rank, is in Mongolia, Eduardo Diaz, A-Rank, is in South America and Cletus Jurgemeyer, B-Rank, is in Africa. Those are the only high-level threats that have visited us in the past."

Yamaki grimaced. "What is it you saw?"

"Two figures, a human and a tall, humanoid digimon with a bushy tail were on the roof of a nearby building, watching our battle," Rika responded.

Riley checked out the radar history. "It seems that there weren't any digivice signals around your battlefield."

"Are you sure you saw what you thought you saw?" Yamaki asked.

"Yes, I'm positive. There was some Tamer on top of a roof, watching our battle. Maybe… maybe he doesn't have a digivice or something."

Yamaki decided to humor her. "Okay, I'm going to need an order to be issued out for all local tamers to be put on high alert. There's a chance there's a rogue out there and I'm not going to bet any of my men against it."

* * *

Rika stayed there throughout the evening, pondering her predicament. She had the other four girls with her, Jeri, Miki, Ayaka and Airu, and she hoped that would be enough. She called her mother while she was waiting around to let her know that she probably wouldn't come home that night, though she didn't say why. As it was, her mother was out of town and Rika didn't want to force her back because of this. After a little while, Mizuno walked into the hallway. "Good evening, Rika. I ordered some pizza for you and your friends. It should be here soon."

The red-head appreciated the gesture. "Thanks. Where's Yamaki?"

"Well, he just went home with Riley and I've take over for the night shift." The mysterious man looked over at the fox digimon through the window. "She seems to be healing nicely."

Rika gave a quick smile. It was nice having Shibumi around sometimes, even if the man was a little loony. At least he was nice and easy-going.

"I guess I'll leave you alone for right now. I have to get back to work but I hope everything works out for the best." Upon saying that, the computer scientist walked back into the Hypnos observation room. Rika looked around at the other girls. Jeri was in another room with Elecmon, talking to someone on the phone. Airu and Ayaka were busy talking about fashion, school and a few other things and Miki was headed to where Jeri was. Seeing this, Rika decided to pursue the purple-haired girl into the other room.

"Yeah, so, the reason why I had to cancel our date tonight was because the partner of a friend of mine was critically injured in a battle against a wild digimon today. Sorry about that." Jeri listened as the boy on the other line continued talking before she replied. "No, as far as I know, Renamon's going to be okay. We won't need any help… Alright, I'll give them your condolences… Bye!"

"Wait, so that means that this mystery guy you've been dating's going to come up and visit?" Miki inquired.

"Unfortunately, he can't. His foster father's a bit strict about where he can go and what he can do." Jeri really wished that the guy would find a way past that so they could be together more, but what could she do?

"Is everything alright?" Rika asked, causing the brown-haired girl to look at her. For some reason, it didn't register that she was in the room.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm…"

"She's worried about what would happen if her father found out about the guy," Elecmon finished for her when she stuttered.

"More or less. He's a really nice guy and everything. In fact, the first time we really met each other was at my parents' restaurant."

Deciding she has had enough of the girls talking about the opposite sex, Rika decided to change the subject a little bit. "So, how _is_ the restaurant these days?" she asked in a tired voice.

"Good. My dad may be hiring some new people and we might be open a little longer. Not to mention: I got a raise."

"Eh, you make good enough money working for Hypnos," Miki retorted before remembering that the girl had yet to delete a single digimon since she got Leomon back. "On second thought, have you made any money working for Hypnos?"

Jeri shook her head. "Just what little they pay me for coming to meetings."

Just then, they heard the elevator door open. It turned out to be the pizza delivery boy, a guy in his late teens with several pizzas. Shibumi then appeared behind the trio of girls and walked up to him.

"That'll be 3500 yen," the delivery man told the long-haired man who proceeded to bring out a few bills and hand them to him. In return, the man got back change and three pizzas.

"Thank you very much," Mizuno told the man as he left. "Well, dinner's here!"

"Perfect timing! We get to eat!" The source of that voice was someone coming out the other elevator that Rika didn't want to see: Terriermon. Along with him, Takato, Henry, Guilmon, Ryo and Cyberdramon came out.

"Terriermon, we just ate right before coming here," Henry chided the digimon.

"Oh, come on, I'm a growing mon!"

Takato laughed at this. "At this rate, you're going to have to get into Weight Watchers or something."

"But the pizza smells good, Takato?" Guilmon said. "Can I have some?"

"Maybe you can have a slice." Takato then looked at Rika, who didn't look too pleased at his visit. "Hey, Rika, I heard about what happened…"

"Yeah, yeah, what is the real reason you came?" she asked.

"I just came as a friend," the boy corrected, a frown coming across his face. "Listen, if you don't want me here, I can just leave."

"Rika, you've been avoiding Takato ever since you went on that mission with him to find the Tamers in the Koto area when they first appeared," Henry said. "Can't you just let whatever happened back then go? It's been two years."

"Yeah, remember what I told you before?" Jeri asked, concerned. "Just because he does something that you don't like doesn't mean that you should allow this to hurt your friendship."

Rika rolled her eyes. She was too tired and worried to be dealing with this kind of nonsense. "Fine…"

"So, when can we eat?" Ayaka asked.

"This smells so good. It's a shame I can only have one slice since I need to maintain my figure." Miki exclaimed.

"I know. It can be hard with all that junk food, right?" Airu admitted.

"Rika's partner is injured and all you can think about is your figure?" Ryo asked in astonishment as Miki talked about her diet program.

"So, how's the team, Mr. Perfect?" Rika inquired.

Ryo took a deep breath. "I had no idea leading a team could be so hard."

"His teammates don't seem to want to go along with his methods," Cyberdramon commented in his growling voice.

"That and it's hard to prevent them from relying on me for every single Ultimate that comes through the barriers." Ryo scratched the back of his neck. "_And_ I've got all that pressure from school."

"Just let them grow on their own. That's what I did with my classmates that became Tamers," Takato suggested. "And now they can all take care of Ultimates on their own."

"Yeah, I did the same thing with Miki and Ayaka. I just stood back when I felt they were ready to take on the tougher challenges." _Jeri, on the other hand…_ Rika had no idea what she was going to do with that girl. She never answered any bioemergences and she was far too timid about encountering enemy digimon. Rika was going to have to have a talk with her.

* * *

After dinner, Rika took the others to see Renamon, who was fairly well healed at that point and only missing a few tufts of fur and skin. Rika felt heartbroken to see her partner looking like that, but at least she knew she was going to be okay. Renamon was probably going to require large amounts of rest after this to recover fully, though, but at least she would be fine within a couple of days, long enough for her next mission.

"How'd this happen?" Takato asked.

"Boltmon happened," Rika replied, her eyes narrowed. She didn't want to talk to Takato, but she kind of had to.

"A Mega bioemerged?" Guilmon inquired in surprise.

"No, just an Ultimate that became a Mega right in the middle of battle. This makes me afraid, though. What would happen if something like that happened and one of the tamers other than us four had to deal with it?"

"No kidding," Ryo said. "We're going to have to find a way to get the others to Mega somehow."

"What can we do?" Takato asked. "I mean, it's not like there's an app that we could use to somehow give everyone enough data to biomerge."

"And the Software Development Kit for the D-Arc is too limited for that," Henry commented.

"Yeah, all it's good for is making games and stuff. Then there was that one prawn app!" Terriermon exclaimed.

"That one?" Henry asked. "Last I checked, it was taken off the digivice's app store and all traces of it were erased. I can't believe some idiot Tamer would have the time to make something like that."

Takato chuckled. Then he looked over at Rika. He never expected her to be so sad and he just wanted to comfort her. The problem was that she wouldn't let him. Not after he ruined their friendship by asking her out on a date. Then again, it was her insecurities that caused that to happen.

He wished that they could at least be friends again. He hoped that at the upcoming tournament, he would be able to restore everything to where it was before that debacle two years ago.

"Takato, is something wrong?" Guilmon asked his partner.

"Don't worry, boy, it's just… Nevermind."

* * *

With that, the boys left. Airu decided to leave as well as Jeri, leaving the three girls behind. Rika took a deep breath as soon as they were through the elevator doors. It had been hours since the incident, and it seemed that Renamon was finally on the verge of being healed. It helped that, as a Rookie, she required less data to heal than she would have otherwise. Still, it was a close one and it meant that Rika didn't want to let her guard down ever again.

"So, I decided that I'm going to invite Ezekiel to the dance," Miki announced, infuriating Rika.

"If you say one more word about that boy, I'm going to personally tell him that you took pictures of him in the locker room. When he finds out about that, he's going to attempt to transfer schools and you will never see him again. Am I clear?" Rika snapped.

"Rika!" Ayaka exclaimed. "How could you say such a thing?"

"My partner digimon almost died today and all Miki can think about is some stupid boy that doesn't even like her. Can you imagine what it would be like for you if Syakomon was in there? Or Gatomon? And then one of your friends was talking only about this boy she liked, not caring about your partner."

"But I do care," Miki objected. "It's just… oh, I don't know! When something like this happens, I just want to go somewhere else and pretend it didn't."

Rika felt bad for snapping, though she did have a point and both Ayaka and Miki saw that. The red-head just wanted the day to be over with. It was already 11:00. Perhaps it was time to head home.

Unfortunately, just as Rika was beginning to entertain that thought, the lights went out.

"A blackout?" Miki asked. The three girls and their partners checked outside the window to see that the other buildings were still bright. Then some lights switched back on, signaling that the generators were online.

"Looks like everything else is fine to me," Gatomon commented.

"I'm so scared," Ayaka said, shaking.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing," Syakomon commented.

"No, it's definitely something." Rika said, gesturing out the window across the hall at the well-lit city. "Someone cut the power here, somehow, and I can bet there's only one place where that someone would go."

"The mainframe," Miki deduced. Knowing all that, the girls ran toward the room where Riley and Tally could often be seen monitoring traffic between the worlds. Of course, the shifts varied and they weren't the only ones who did that, but they were the most well-known. Heck, even Antonio spent some time monitoring the barriers.

While running toward the mainframe, the girls noticed a shadow fly by them on the other side of the window panes just before something came crashing in through the window. That something was a digimon that neither the trio of tamers nor their partners had ever seen before. It was a tall, humanoid digimon with the head of a raccoon whose eyes were covered with a pair of goggles and its tail was long and bushy. It was wearing shiny black armor all over its body and even had a jetpack on its back.

"StrikeMapachemon, Ultimate Level, Virus Attribute. That's Eduardo Diaz's partner…" Rika said, reading the enemy digimon's data from off her digivice. "Great!"

"What should we do?" Miki asked.

"Digivolve Gatomon to Ultimate. Ayaka, you're going to have to keep Syakomon in her Champion form since you only have so much room."

The digimon evolved just as StrikeMapachemon burst forward for the attack.

"Gatomon digivolve to… Angewomon!"

"Syakomon digivolve to… Ranamon!"

Angewomon barely dodged the enemy digimon's knife as he struck where she had been. Ranamon decided to use this as an opportunity to attack. "Draining Rain!" she yelled, unleashing a torrent of rain against StrikeMapachemon, which unfortunately had very little effect.

"What are you going to do?" Miki attempted to ask Rika, but the red-head was nowhere in sight.

"She's probably going to take another way in and deal with Diaz," Ayaka indicated.

"Dark Vapor!" Ranamon yelled, launching an attack consisting of a dark cloud of acid at StrikeMapachemon, causing various bubbles to form across his armor.

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon yelled, unleashing a ribbon of pink energy at the raccoon, who jumped out of the way, before disappearing and reappearing behind the female angel.

"Angewomon, watch out!" Miki yelled frantically. Angewomon turned just in time to see a knife headed straight for her stomach and barely dodged.

Ayaka had enough of this. "Miki, we're going to have to use modify cards."

"Well, duh!" the dark-haired girl said as she pulled out her deck. She then selected a card and slid it into her purple digivice with a pink ring. "Digi-Modify! Speed activate!"

With that, Angewomon's agility shot up and the angel started to move along with the enemy digimon in front of her. StrikeMapachemon stabbed at the angel but couldn't lay a hand on her. Then the digimon thought of a better idea. He smiled crookedly before vanishing.

After five seconds of silence, Ranamon spoke up. "He's gone? Wow, we really scared him off!"

Then the enemy attacked her, stabbing her underneath the left breast and on the right arm. "Ranamon!" Ayaka yelled for her partner, who quickly fell to the ground and devolved back to Syakomon. StrikeMapachemon turned away from Angewomon's fallen comrade to seek out the angel, feeling a strong desire to get this whole battle over with.

"Heaven's Charm!"

_Not that old trick, again! _StrikeMapachemon thought before jumping out of the way of the attack.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon called, creating a bow with her feathers and unleashing an arrow of pink light against the psychotic humanoid raccoon that she was fighting against. The digimon jumped into the air and toward the angel as she shot her attack. He merely dodged to the side and struck as the angel finished her attack, stabbing her wing and slicing into a good chunk of it. Then he moved behind her and struck her back, causing the female angel to arch it in pain.

"Angewomon!" Miki called out in dread of what happened to her partner as the angel fell to the ground and devolved all the way back to her small, dog-like rookie form of Salamon. The girls didn't dare go anywhere near the raccoon, who then spoke.

"Oi, is that the best you've got? Man, that was pathetic!" the enemy digimon taunted in the stereotypical accent of a member of the mafia. He then realized something. One of the tamers was missing.

"_Come back here and rescue me! She found me!" _ StrikeMapachemon heard though his telepathic rapport with his partner.

"_On my way. You find out where the heck I'm supposed to go to find what you're looking for?" _he answered, getting ready to disappear in a hurry.

"_I'll tell you on the way over there! Now, just get me out of here as soon as possible!"_

With that, the humanoid raccoon disappeared and the two girls moved toward their partners.

"I can't believe we lost!" Miki cried as she picked up Salamon from off the ground.

Ayaka looked about ready to break down in tears as well. "I know what you mean. What's Rika going to think when she finds out about this?"

"Who cares about her? All I care about is what-"

"Remember what Rika told us earlier?" Ayaka asked. "What could we have done differently?"

Miki shut up about what she was going to mention. "Well, I don't know…" she admitted. She was starting to shake. It was hard to bear a defeat, especially one that was so single-handed. "I only slid one card. Also, I probably should have had Angewomon use different attacks."

"You used two of them. My partner's champion form only has three attacks to choose from," Ayaka remarked. She felt ready to collapse from exhaustion right then and there. "Syakomon, are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine," the mollusk said. "That thing was a doozy… Never want to go up against him again."

* * *

Rika hoped she knew what she was doing. However, she did have a back-up plan so that in case her partner was incapacitated or worse, she would be able to continue dealing with bio-emergences, though only up to the ultimate level. The red-head moved through the various doors of the facility until she came across the room she wanted to be in.

In another part of the room, Gorou Mizuno was busy typing something in on the computer, having only barely noticed the power-outage and subsequent turn-on of the generators in the building, when a figure appeared behind him and held what the man though was a gun to the back of his head. "Don't move or I'll shoot."

Mizuno felt cold sweat come down his face. He knew that someone snuck in and was attempting to rob him and if he called out to anyone, the person behind him would make a hole straight through his head. He might as well give the person what he wanted, that is, unless it was top secret information. Then he would have to refuse and potentially die. He didn't want that to happen. "What do you want?" the man asked in a shaky voice.

"Information. There are rumors going around that one of Hypnos' employees has been developing applications for the digivice using an extended version of the SDK for it that you developed."

_That? The only one with that is… _"If he is, they wouldn't be here."

The mysterious person pushed the barrel of the weapon against Shibumi's head again. Rika noticed something odd about it. It didn't look like it was made of metal like every gun she had seen, but plastic instead. This guy was trying to pull off a robbery with an airsoft gun! "Tell me who has it so I can take those apps for myself!" the person shouted, hurting Mizuno's eardrums with his sharp voice.

Mizuno stuttered a little bit, thinking about how best to deal with this kid according to regulation. He figured he'd give him what he wanted and then have the Tamers confront him when he got there. "Antonio Guevara has it! Please, just leave him alone and don't hurt him either. He works on those programs using his computer on his spare time!" Rika wondered how much he had to deal with while he was in the digital world. Then again, he was just there in some ephemeral form so maybe digimon couldn't delete him.

The girl rolled her eyes. If only Shibumi could see that this guy was just a kid who was bluffing. Still, this seemed like as good a moment as any to use her special technique. The girl pulled out her digivice and then her cards. She already had the card she had in mind at the top of her deck just in case, a card that for whatever reason worked on the Tamer instead of the digimon. Then she slid it, catching the enemy Tamer's attention with her words. "Digi-modify! Spirit Evolution Activate!"

With that, she turned on the lights, momentarily blinding the enemy tamer. The next thing he saw as his sight returned was a female warrior dressed in armor like that of a wolf's holding what appeared to be a white lightsaber standing in front of him. "Lobomon!"

Rika looked over the enemy tamer and saw that he had somewhat long, messy black hair that looked quite oily and a short beard. He also appeared to be of stocky build and was wearing a red shirt and black pants. His brown eyes betrayed a look of panic since now he was exposed. The red-headed tamer found it hard to believe that this guy was a mere sixteen years old.

After heading in front of him, she sliced the airsoft gun in half and held her lightsaber to block him. The teen was obviously American since he was speaking English the whole time, but the one thing that stood out most to Rika was the smell that the guy was giving off. "Back off, mister!"

"Spirit Evolution, huh?" he said in a haughty voice. "Why is it that you Japanese Tamers like to show off what you can do at every chance you get? The one time I tried that, I got a message on my digivice saying that I had insufficient data to perform it!"

"Oh, can it, smelly! How is it that you're here but we can't detect you?" Rika inquired roughly.

"It's quite simple, actually. I left my digivice in another country. You see, I've been training my partner to maintain his Ultimate form for far longer than usual. Lately, he's been able to keep that form for up to a week. That, combined with his incredible speed and ability to fly, allows me to come here and deal with you without you knowing."

"Yeah, that's wonderful and everything, but what are you planning, anyway?" Rika shouted, angry that some idiot like this would have to come on a day such as this one.

The teen scoffed at her question. "Like I'd tell you. Of course, you probably know part of it since you were listening from the shadows. You know, Rika, the two of us have a lot more in common than you think."

"Yeah, right! Like what?" she spat.

"Our telepathic bond with our partners, for instance. Also our fierce independence. We would make a great team, if you so desired. Then there are our similar family problems… Come on, you've got to want to run off with someone like me. I thought you Japanese liked foreigners!"

"Not interested, bud! Besides, you smell like you crawled out of a sewer. That's definitely not helping your appearance."

_Why does everyone have to mention my hygiene? _Eduardo thought, cringing at the insult that Rika just lobbed at him. "Well, Rika, it was nice chatting with you and everything, but I have to run. Maybe the next time I'm in town, the two of us could go out to dinner. What do you say?" he asked in an all-the-sudden cheery voice

Was this idiot really flirting with her? She didn't have time to ask that question since he was gone just after saying that. With that, she deactivated her spirit evolution and went out to check on the others. Apparently the battle didn't go so well as the Ultimates that went up against StrikeMapachemon had already devolved back to their Rookie forms.

Upon seeing all that, the girl turned to Shibumi urgently. "Call Antonio Guevara. Tell him that Eduardo Diaz is on his way!"

"Already on it. Contact the other Tamers to converge on his apartment." The man said as he dialed the number frantically.

* * *

Antonio woke up in the middle of the night to the loud ringing of his cell phone. Getting up out of his futon and walking over to it, he answered. _"I'm sorry to wake you, but it seems that we've had a problem," _he heard Mizuno say on the other line.

"What is it?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

_"The rogue Tamer Eduardo Diaz is on his way to your apartment for your programs."_ Hearing this, Antonio immediately ran out of his bedroom door, not caring that he wasn't decent, and into his dining room, turning on his light on the way there. The first thing he noticed was that his laptop was gone from the table. He just stood there in absolute shock, fighting a wave of panic that was running through his body and that would surely keep him up all night. Also, he noticed that the door to the balcony was left open. Apparently Eduardo left in a hurry.

"Call the Tamers first thing tomorrow morning and tell them we're having an emergency meeting. I can't let that idiot get away with that."

_"I was already planning on it. I'm sending a text to all the tamers in Tokyo about it."_

"Good. Now, I've got to get to sleep. It's way too late. So, good night!" After receiving the corresponding valediction from Mizuno, the large man immediately went over to the door to the balcony and shut it. Unfortunately, he didn't get any sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

After that little battle, Rika, Ayaka and Miki, along with their partner digimon went to the infirmary where Renamon was finished regenerating. Rika was mad that she couldn't help her friends in the battle against StrikeMapachemon and she just wanted to go to whatever country Eduardo was headed for to ring his neck. How dare he defeat her friends' digimon.

Renamon just started to wake up as Rika clenched her fist. As soon as the computer sensed her partner's consciousness, all the water was drained from the tank, causing the fox to come down to the ground gently. Rika opened the door to the tank and hugged her wet partner.

"Rika… what is it?" Renamon asked, noticing how panicked her partner looked.

"We fought a rogue Tamer tonight," the red-head said, tears coming down her eyes. "I thought I was going to lose you, you know."

The fox smiled. "Rika, you don't have to worry." The fox tried getting up, but couldn't.

"Stop that. You're still weak," Rika said out of concern. "You need to rest."

"Yeah, Renamon," Miki said, coming into the tank. "We'll take you to a nice, comfy bed." Renamon didn't mind the thought at all. She was exhausted after all that healing.

"So, what do you think we'll have to do to stop this creep?" Ayaka asked her friend.

"I don't know. Didn't you see his record? All those poor Tamers!" Miki commented. "And it was all because he wanted to be the best and only Tamer there. What a horrible person."

Rika couldn't agree more. However, she didn't want to think about that. She just wanted to sleep after getting her partner to a bed. It had been a long day. And tomorrow would be just as long, since there was no doubt that Yamaki would want to call a meeting about this incident.

* * *

Next Chapter: Plots and Characters

A/N: A little bit on digivolutions: when it comes for new evolutions, I try to think of logical ones. For instance, a couple of chapters ago, ExVeemon became Arresterdramon. I know that's not supported by cannon but it makes sense when you think about it (plus, Gumdramon's quite clearly an expy of Veemon in the design department. Heck, I'd say his in-training form is most likely DemiVeemon, that is, once he finally gets a level…). Ranamon coming from Syakomon also makes sense, plus it's actually supported by the card game (check on Wikimon). You'll also see a tamer later on with a ViElecmon as a partner that becomes Lowemon (people who have already read 'The Empty World' already know who I'm talking about), which isn't supported by any supplemental resources.

Also, a note on Spirit Evolution. Only Tamers who can also biomerge in the real world (meaning Takato, Rika, Henry and Ryo) can activate it. Also, performing Unified Spirit Evolution is impossible while nobody knows about Fusion Evolution, which would require the two spirit cards and a blue card or crest program.

Mapache is Spanish for Raccoon. His rookie form is called Coonmon. The funny thing is, I thought up that digimon line thinking that there are far too many reptiles and not enough mammals. Heck, Raccoons are awesome (if psychotic). Why isn't there an official digimon based on one?


	4. Plots and Characters

Chapter 4: Plots and Characters

* * *

Dislcaimer: I don't own digimon. Just my own OCs.

* * *

He walked into the apartment as silently as he possibly could, breaking into it through the balcony. He glanced around, noticing that what he was looking for wasn't in the kitchen or the dining room. Somehow the occupants were asleep, despite it only being about ten o'clock at night. He twisted the doorknob of one of the doors as silently as he possibly could and slipped into the bedroom. The room's occupant was on a futon in the middle of the floor, and as far as he could tell, he was shirtless and laying on his stomach. The man's keys were on the dresser where the thief expected them to be.

The thief grabbed them as quickly as he could and checked them out. There were two house keys. He walked out the door, shutting it as quietly as he possibly could and walked towards the front door to the apartment, which he opened. He tried one of the house keys and found it didn't work, so that was the one he took.

There was a pang of guilt that went through his body when he took it, but he tried his best to suppress it and succeeded with his partner's help. The thief then closed and locked the door and headed over to the balcony, ignoring the laptop which was on the table.

A few minutes later, he was back. The thief opened up the balcony and slipped in just as the telephone rang. He then grabbed the computer, disconnecting it from its power cord, and ran out the balcony before being snatched up by his partner. The two landed on a nearby rooftop just as the apartment owner walked out of his room. Eduardo couldn't bear to look at the man he had just stolen from. The rogue placed the man's laptop in his backpack. He couldn't believe he had marked it as inconsequential when he stopped at the apartment in the first place. He also realized that a number of Tamers were likely going to be converging on that very point in the next couple of minutes.

"Alright, let's go back to Montevideo," the bearded teen said, placing a pair of white goggles over his eyes and a pair of plugs in his ears while his partner grabbed onto him and activated the jet engines on his back, launching into the air at an incredible velocity.

StrikeMapachemon's speed was immense, but even so, Eduardo had to endure hours of travel. He eventually found himself back in South America right by where he left his digivice. He made sure to leave it where he hoped no one would find it and that meant leaving it on a rooftop in the middle of a large city, hidden in a crevice near the stairwell. His partner let him down before devolving back to his rookie form, a digimon that looked like a grey raccoon wearing a black mask. The digimon then curled up and fell asleep content while Eduardo transferred some files from the computer that he had stolen to a different computer of his own. It took him some time to find those files, as Antonio wasn't a very organized person when it came to the contents on his PC, but that gave his partner time to recover from another long stint in his Ultimate form. After that, Eduardo would sleep for a few hours before seeking out a programmer to help him.

Still, there was an application for the digivice that was on the computer that would suit his needs just fine and eliminate his having to leave his jet black digivice behind. Unfortunately, there weren't any other apps on the computer, which surprised him. He figured that Antonio must have his special applications somewhere else, perhaps on a portable USB stick or hard drive.

Just when he was about to get some sleep, his digivice started beeping. He answered it and the holographic display of another boy in his age group showed up, this one being a really skinny guy with brown hair and blue eyes.

_"What's the status, Ed?"_ the other teen asked in a domineering voice.

"I've got the extended SDK. I couldn't find any programs other than a stealth mode one on this computer. We'll probably need to get somebody to program a substitute for the one that should allow us to reach Mega. Got any ideas?"

_"I have one. This guy's kind of annoying, but he lives in the city where I live_," the brown-haired teen responded in a way that made it clear that he was dreading talking to the guy. Eduardo felt relief that he wouldn't have to go seek out a programmer after all. Hopefully this other Tamer would pull through.

"Gotcha, Greg! Coonmon and I'll be where you're at in the next couple of days." Eduardo pulled the key out of his pocket as he leaned back on the roof. "Just gotta go check out the new pad in Chile."

* * *

Ezekiel woke up to his uncle yelling. The large man barged into his bedroom angrily, holding a bottle of Head and Shoulders and complaining in rapid-fire Spanish. To add insult to injury, he was wearing nothing but a brown towel around his chest which was being held to it by his left hand. "Ezekiel, I got this bottle two weeks ago! It's already empty! How much shampoo do you need for that mop of yours, huh?"

"I haven't been using _that _much shampoo," the teen grumbled, speaking English, and looking around he found a different person to pin the blame on. "Dobermon's been using it."

"Are you kidding me? I don't even shower. I clean myself," was the dog's gruff reply as he glared at his partner.

The large man gave his nephew a dirty look. "Trying to blame the dog, are we?"

Ezekiel noticed that the man looked just plain exhausted and that he had some serious bags under his eyes. "You don't look too good."

The man chuckled and beckoned his nephew to get up so he could show him something. Ezekiel's sleepwear consisted of a t-shirt and some gym shorts. The teen complied, getting up off his futon and following his uncle into the living room where DemiVeemon was sleeping soundly on the couch, apparently oblivious to what was going on. The black-haired teen didn't notice anything different at first until he finally realized in confusion that the dining table was empty except for a full napkin holder. There was also a power attachment for the computer just lying there on the ground.

"Well, guess what? I was robbed," Antonio said angrily, getting straight to the point. "Some kid decided to come through and steal my computer right from under me. The nerve! If I knew a way to contact his parents, I'd tell them everything about how much of an idiot their kid is."

Ezekiel was quite shocked. "I thought the crime rates in Japan were low," he said while scratching his chin.

"They are. This is another foreigner we're talking about. Some moronic kid named Eduardo Diaz apparently saw fit to come and jack my stuff. Now I've got a meeting to go into at Hypnos on my day off. Thankfully, most of my projects are on my portable hard drive and only on my hard drive, but one that I just started yesterday was still on it. And _that's_ what I'm worried about."

Ezekiel was extremely surprised about what happened. He was normally calm and collected, but even the thought of that rogue coming within twenty feet of him and stealing something from his own uncle disconcerted him and put a very real look of worry on his normally stoic though smiling face and at the same time made him clench his fists in anger.

"That changes things. I take it he didn't use the front door?"  
"Nope. He ruined the locks for the balcony, so I'm gonna have to go get those changed. Just great!"

"I guess I better get ready for this meeting, then," the teen responded, heading into the shower. He stopped when he heard his uncle speak again.

"Wait, you're coming?" Antonio asked in surprise, his eyes widened for the first time that morning.

"I have some information that the tamers might need," Ezekiel said. "Out of curiosity, since your only means of transportation is that motorcycle of yours, how exactly are we supposed to go to Hypnos?"

"Oh, I've got a way. By the way, you have any money?" the larger man asked with narrow eyes.

"I have some money I withdrew from my savings account in Vegas before leaving that I need to exchange. Why?"

"Cause you're going to be buying me a new thing of shampoo!"

* * *

Takato felt ready to take on the day and shot up out of bed, stepping over the oversized reptile snoozing on his floor. The previous day's events helped him to mend his friendship with Rika far better than anything else ever since it fell apart. He only hoped he could keep it up.

After getting up, he showered, got dressed, woke up Guilmon and then the two ate breakfast. It was about that time that he got the call about the meeting, which caused his plans for the day to go out the window.

"What is it? A meeting?" He asked, disappointed. "I thought the financial report was last week…" He paused as Yamaki explained to him what was going on. "Okay, I'll see you there. Bye." He groaned at the thought of sitting through it. However the thought of the rogue Tamer attack the previous day made him worry about Rika. Was she okay? He hoped that she didn't have to involve Renamon with it either since the fox was injured.

"What's going on, Takato?" Guilmon inquired, twitching his left ear at the same time.

"There was a rogue Tamer attack by Eduardo Diaz at Hypnos yesterday while Renamon was recovering. I just hope Rika's okay." The boy said, downcast.

"Don't worry, Takato, Rika can take care of herself," the dinosaur commented, relieving Takato's fears and giving him cause to smile.

"Yeah, you're right. She's smarter than me so she probably figured out a way out of that mess easily."

* * *

Ezekiel found himself flying on AeroVeedramon's back with his arms around his uncle's belly while Dobermon sat in front of Antonio. He had no idea that his uncle could digivolve to Ultimate, though since the guy was a Tamer for twenty years, it was pretty much a given. It's a shame he didn't see that one time his uncle took on a Brachiomon shortly after he arrived.

"You know, I hate heights," Dobermon commented.

"If you'd like, I could dedigivolve you into Xiaomon and you could ride in my uncle's backpack," Ezekiel suggested, though to be honest, he didn't like heights much either. At least he wasn't riding on the back of his uncle's motorcycle. _That _would be awkward.

"Nah, I'm good," the dog replied with a grimace coming across his face. He didn't like his lower forms that much and Ezekiel preferred to keep him in his Champion form anyway. That way he didn't have to explain why he had a pink-eared dog. The black-haired boy shuddered at the thought.

"Well, here we are!" Antonio shouted above the noise. "The Tokyo Metropolitan Building, aka Hypnos!"

Ezekiel looked in awe at the building. As it was, he already enjoyed the view of the vast city of Tokyo from the sky. "So, which came first, this or the Twin Towers?" he asked.

"I would assume the Twin Towers. It's a shame that those went down, though," the man commented. "New York'll never be the same."

"You've been to New York?"

"I've been all over. Heck, I was pretty well paid when I was a university professor. I even got to go teach in places like Brazil. Now that's a place with beautiful women!"

"So I heard. You speak Portuguese?"

"Yeah, it's a lot like Spanish, just nasally and with a different R. Oh, and there are a few pieces of grammar that Portuguese has that are no longer in Spanish, such as the Future Subjunctive."

"It's a shame I don't know squat about grammar," Ezekiel remarked. "Then again, English class felt so useless by middle school."

AeroVeedramon landed on the helicopter pad at the same time as other Tamers with flying digimon. Ezekiel recognized Aquilamon, Birdramon and Saberdramon among them along with another digimon he had never seen before that his digivice identified as RaptorSparrowmon, an Ultimate level. After getting off of AeroVeedramon and after the digimon devolved, they entered into the building.

* * *

Antonio and Ezekiel arrived outside the meeting room along with Dobermon and DemiVeemon. Once they entered into Hypnos, Yamaki noticed them and scowled. "He isn't supposed to be here…" the man told Antonio.

Ezekiel decided to go straight to the point and explain himself. "I have information on Eduardo Diaz that I would like you to hear. We have met."

Antonio took a deep breath out of nervousness in front of his younger boss. "It's true," he said. "I promise I'll take responsibility with whatever he does."

"Okay. Does he speak Japanese?" Yamaki asked gruffly.

"Very little," Ezekiel admitted. "I've been taking lessons from Henry. Unfortunately, the grammar still seems quite alien and my vocabulary's still very low."

Yamaki wasn't surprised. The blond director decided to call out to one of his aides. "Tally, can you interpret for an English speaker during the meeting?" he asked, motioning for the girl to come to him. He didn't know why he didn't just arrest the American teen and lock him up right on the spot while calling Echelon to come and collect one of their own, but he figured that if the Tamer in question had information on Eduardo, it would be better just to have him there. As it was, D-Ranks were generally ignored by other countries.

It was a few seconds later when Henry, Suzie and their partners arrived and it turned out that just about every tamer from Tokyo was there. He even saw Ezekiel talking to Tally and decided to walk up to him to say hi, hearing the last bit of the conversation the American tamer was having with her.

"Just put this on and I'll interpret for you," the blonde woman said while handing Ezekiel a headset, smiling.

"Alright, thanks," the black-haired boy replied. "Learning Japanese is definitely harder than I expected."

"That's understandable. I remember when I went to England for a foreign exchange program years ago and I couldn't understand anyone since I learned American English, so don't feel too bad." With that, Tally wished him luck. Ezekiel turned to the Chinese boy upon noticing his presence.

"Hello, Ezekiel. How is everything?" Henry greeted the boy in Japanese to try and get the guy to practice.

"Good. I'm just here for the meeting, that's all."

Not everyone was happy to see him, though. "What are _you_ doing here?" Ezekiel turned to see Rika looking at him with a serious scowl on her face.

"I have information to give to the rest of the Tamers regarding the one who decided to visit last night. Because of that, Yamaki decided to let me come to the meeting, despite his reservations."

"What do you mean?" The girl asked, warily. "And what kind of information do you have? We already know everything that Echelon has published on the guy from his robbery streak to how he tried to prevent any more tamers from appearing in Las Vegas."

"He's from there, huh?" Ezekiel said with a bit of surprise. "Basically, it's information on what he's apparently been doing ever since he left the United States."

"And how would you have this information?" the red-head inquired.

Ezekiel didn't want to give her first dibs on the info he had, so he decided to simply end the conversation with Rika, something he realized would probably make her mad. "I'll tell you in the meeting."

"You better," she shot back.

"Is it just me or are there a lot of Tamers here?" Ezekiel asked glancing around the waiting room at the various kids and their digimon.

Henry agreed. "You know, there are a couple more than last time. They came from all over Tokyo with some traveling from as far as Yokohama. I'm not sure we're all going to fit in the meeting room."

"I somehow doubt it," the light-skinned Latino remarked, scratching his chin.

After he said that, Yamaki entered into the room again and upon seeing each of the Tamers in the room, he decided on a different course of action. "It turns out that for this meeting we're going to request that only the various team leaders and any Tamers pertinent to this investigation can come in along with their partner digimon. The rest of you can go home. Don't worry, you'll be appraised of the situation later on by your leaders." For the most part, the other tamers didn't argue about leaving and exited the building, leaving Takato, Ryouma, Rika, Antonio and Ezekiel behind, along with a couple other team leaders and their digimon.

"Well, I guess I'll have to go," Henry said, disappointed.

"Enjoy the rest of your day," Ezekiel said back, also feeling a pang of disappointment.

"Yeah, enjoy that meeting, Zeekie!" Terriermon cheered. At times, Ezekiel just wanted to strangle that rabbit. It was a shame the digimon had a Tamer that he was friends with, otherwise he would. After that, Henry, his sister and their partners left and Ezekiel glanced at a combination of Rika's glare, Takato's surprise and Yamaki adjusting his sunglasses for the umpteenth while looking in confusion at Ezekiel's presence.

* * *

Takato dreaded meetings. Unfortunately, since he was the leader of the Shinjuku team, he had to go to pretty much every one, much to his chagrin.

"Now, to apprise everyone of what happened last night… Rika, would you like to tell us?" Yamaki requested. Rika gladly took the floor.

"A rogue Tamer by the name of Eduardo Diaz came into our country undetected and threatened Shibumi in order to give him information on the whereabouts of Mr. Guevara's applications. Now he has his laptop as well as an application that is potentially dangerous," Rika explained. "Mr. Guevara, would you share with the class what was on that computer of yours?"

The large man took a deep breath and spoke. "Well, most of the time I try to put all my new applications on a portable hard drive after finishing them and I remove them from my computer. Unfortunately, this time I didn't put it on it since I wasn't completely done with it." He paused for a second and continued. "This Tamer, Eduardo Diaz now has an application that will render his digivice impervious to detection by any others as well as any organization that can monitor Tamers."

"What?!" Rika exclaimed in sheer shock. "Why on earth would you want to make such a thing?"

The large man answered nervously. "It was… it was kind of a mental exercise. I also thought that when complete, it would be useful for Tamers going to other countries who want to avoid detection by hostile forces, such as those going undercover. The complete version would have it so that at least one organization such as Hypnos or Echelon would have to be able to detect it."

"So what you're saying is that Diaz will be able to go anywhere in the world without any of our allies being able to detect him," Yamaki stated, angrily. "Just great…"

"That's not the worst of it. He also has the extended version of the SDK that I use to create my experimental apps. Since he's got it, he just needs a good enough programmer and he'll be able to create a number of applications that are just plain impossible to make using the normal SDK that I made available on my website. We're talking about applications that could allow him to eventually reach the Mega level along with anyone else he chooses."

Takato had no idea what he was talking about. "What's an SDK, exactly?"

"It stands for Software Development Kit. There are various SDKs that can be used with a number of devices. I think that about the only thing that will stop him from doing what he wants with it is the lack of documentation on it."

"So can you personally reach the Mega level in the real world? You've been a Tamer for what? Twenty years or so?" Ryouma inquired.

"No. I've been trying to work on a way to do it. Unfortunately, I've kind of hit a snag." From the look on the man's face, everyone could tell he was quite frustrated with it.

"He'll need to find a way to convert his body to data," Rika explained.

"Exactly, I need it set up to bond enough digital matter to my system to perform a biomerge. I've got the digital matter. Now I need to find out how to put it in my system without killing me or something. I'm a bit afraid of testing it out for obvious reasons."

"I can understand that," Takato said, letting everything that Antonio said sink in.

"So, Zeekie boy, don't you have something to tell us about?" Rika asked Ezekiel, while invoking Terriermon's nickname. He wasn't the least bit shocked that she would put him on the spot. That didn't make him any less nervous, though.

"You just had to ask," he said with a bit of disappointment in his voice. "Before coming to Japan, Eduardo Diaz approached me and he wanted me to join his team," the black-haired boy admitted.

"Wait, he has a team?" Ryouma asked in fear of what may come, a look of horror coming across his face.

"I'll start from the beginning."

* * *

Shortly after leaving Vegas, Ezekiel found himself in northern Mexico, the state of Sonora to be exact. He had just stopped for the night after a long trek through the southwestern United States on the back of Cerberumon. He was amazed that the government hadn't sent any of the Tamers from Phoenix, Arizona or southern California after him before he got past the border.

"So here I am, an illegal immigrant in a country I don't want to be in. Just great!" the boy exclaimed, laying his head back on a sleeping Dobermon. He had far too much on his mind that night to be sleeping and he wouldn't have been surprised to end up with insomnia after everything.

"All that comes to mind is his face… I can't believe I let him down. And now…"

The boy heard something crack nearby, causing him to shoot up along with his partner. "Who's there?" the dog shouted.

"I'm hoping that's just a wild animal of some sort," Ezekiel said calmly. He felt some sweat come down from the base of his black hair. He was surprised at how hot it still was outside.

"That ain't an animal," Dobermon said gruffly before shouting. "Show yourself!"

Then a figure walked out of the bushes. Due to the location of the moon, all that could be seen of him was an outline of bed-head. The figure reeked of body odor, though, causing Ezekiel to wrinkle his nose in disgust.

"Hi, I was just on my way back home to visit. I hope you don't mind me stopping by," the figure said quickly and with some excitement. "The name's Eduardo, by the way."

"Eduardo…" Ezekiel pulled out his digivice to check whatever stats were on this guy. "Partner: Coonmon, Max Level: Ultimate." He knew he had to be cautious around this person. There was something about him that seemed off.

"So, since you're now in the same boat as me, I thought I'd invite you along. Will you come join my group to fight against the Tamers of Japan?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Ezekiel asked.

"They're the only ones capable of reaching Mega while we have to stay at Ultimate and I want to shake things up a little. It's not fair that they can do that while we can't."

"They were given their power in the middle of battle against the D-Reaper, chum" Dobermon said in between growls, all while showing his teeth. "What do we have to face that even comes close?"

"What he said," Ezekiel agreed, readying himself in a battle stance, his digivice in hand. "I'm already in enough hot water and I don't want to sink even further into it. Besides, hanging out with a bank robber and killer of innocent digimon will do nothing but tarnish my reputation even further. Think about how much your parents are disappointed in you."

Even with the darkness, there was a noticeable twitch in Eduardo's countenance at the mention of his parents. "Well, in that case… Mapachemon!"

A large raccoon came out of the rock formations that were around Ezekiel's camp. The raccoon looked clearly rabid and was foaming at the mouth. He also had bloodshot yellow eyes that Ezekiel didn't want to look directly into.

"Dobermon, are you awake enough to take this thing?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Barely."

"You think you can reach Ultimate?"

"I'm not sure. Why? This guy's just another champion."

"Remember Lowemon," Ezekiel cautioned. "There are Tamers with partners that have power beyond their own levels."

"Can you shut up? This ain't a Speech and Debate class, you idiot!" the source of the voice was Mapachemon himself, speaking in the stereotypical accent of a New York gangster.

"First off, Eduardo, you're making a big mistake by following the path you are on," Ezekiel said.

"Yeah, right. Like you can change me," the bearded teen said.

"Maybe I can't," Eduardo admitted. "So what? Dobermon, it's time! Super Digivolution Activate!"

"Dobermon digivolve to… Cerberumon!"

The three headed dog faced the giant, rabid raccoon with confidence and struck biting Cerberumon in the torso. "Rabid Bite!"

The hellhound buckled under the pain as he felt the infection rage through his body. There was no way he was going to lose this time, not after losing a day earlier. Cerberumon pulled himself away from the rabid raccoon's jaws and despite the lack of speed and the drain on his stamina the infection was causing, he unleashed an attack with all his might.

"Maddog Fire!" he yelled, unleashing several neon-green fireballs at the enemy digimon, who dodged the attacks as best he could.

"The Rabid Bite infected your partner with a virus. This will make him weaker and weaker as long as we fight," Eduardo commented.

"How do you know so much about your partner digimon? I've never even heard of him, before," Ezekiel inquired of the bearded Tamer.

"That's because I designed him. I drew a picture in class and then drew up all his forms, making stats and everything. I guess I'm like Takato Matsuki in a way. Of course, I'm way braver than that idiot, not to mention I should be at the Mega level instead."

Ezekiel pushed his finger against his glasses. _Is this guy insane or something?_ "What makes you think that you deserve that level more than he does?"

Ed laughed. "Oh, come on, Ezekiel. Can't you see that I'm actually doing something? All they're doing is taking care of whatever pathetic enemy digimon come to Shinjuku, dealing with them in whatever way they see fit. Me? Well, let's just say that both Digimon Emperors from the anime had a good idea: take over the digital world. It's a shame that Tanya's father was merely backstory for the third season, though, since I would have enjoyed seeing him in action. Oh well, at least there's fan fiction."

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow in annoyance. It was official: if this guy thought he could become an emperor, he was completely off his rocker. "You got angry when you mentioned your parents earlier. Why are you mad at them?"

"Because my mother's a liar and my father..." Eduardo trailed off, clenching his fist at the thought.

Cerberumon unleashed another volley of his Maddog Fire attack against Mapachemon. The attacks were steadily having less of an effect. In order to win, the three-headed hellhound was going to have to do something else.

"Portals of Darkness!"

A pair of portals to the Dark Area appeared and the two digimon fell into them. Now, Cerberumon was in his element.

"Maddog Fire!" The attack was stronger this time, but unfortunately, Mapachemon could also take advantage of the dark element.

"Night Strike!" the raccoon howled as he slipped into the darkness. He then appeared behind Cerberumon and a stream of dark matter came out from his mouth, engulfing the Cerberus in the bizarre substance.

After that, the Dark Area dissolved around the two digimon, depositing the two in the desert.

"Talk about a crappy knockoff of the real Dark Area, if it exists," Eduardo commented with a vacant look in his eyes as the last of Cerberumon's energy ran out and the digimon devolved all the way back to his rookie form of Labramon, before his form flickered and he devolved further into Xiaomon.

Ezekiel felt struck with worry. Summoning all the energy he had along what he didn't, he ran for his partner and saved him before he was deleted and loaded by Mapachemon.

"Stop, Mapachemon!" Eduardo ordered, getting an annoyed look from his partner.

"Oh, come on! I was hoping for a nice lunch of data. I haven't had that in a long time, since Vegas, even!" Mapachemon complained.

"Come on, you don't need that." This only flustered the digimon even more. "Besides, who would be better to tell everyone about what I can do than Ezekiel, here? Plus, he can't join up with me if he has no partner." Just then, Eduardo thought of something. "Are you related to Professor Antonio Guevara of the University of Santiago, by any chance?"

"Yes, why?" Ezekiel asked with malice.

Eduardo smiled. "Oh, he's one of the designers for the digivice's latest operating system, isn't he? I hear he makes apps for it. Oh, and he's also a Tamer, the oldest one around, supposedly."

Ezekiel's eyes narrowed in spite. "If you dare touch any of my family…"

"Don't worry. I don't even know the guy other than the info he put up on his website and blog. I won't go after him or his family unless they have something that I need."

"He doesn't even have a family of his own. I don't think he's ever been married."

"Hmm… Interesting. I guess that means that there will be less people to hurt if it comes down to it." Eduardo raised both eyebrows and smiled. "Well, see you later. Chao!"

With that, his digivice glowed with a red light. Ezekiel recognized it as a crest program, though one that he didn't know about. His partner digivolved to Ultimate and seemingly phased out of view, moving so fast that Eduardo disappeared less than a second later."

Ezekiel stared in amazement at what happened. Now he would have to find a way out of Mexico and find his Uncle. In truth, he had no idea that the man was a tamer, but now that it sunk in, he was quite shocked. He never suspected a thing when the man came to visit his family, even recently when he came to Vegas.

He was going to have to find that man. Thankfully, since other people's digivices could be detected via his own, he was able to find it on his own. For some reason, the man was already in Japan at that point. After that, he spent the night walking to the nearest backwater town he could detect with the GPS program built into the digivice.

It would be a long few weeks before he made it. At least he spoke Spanish so he could communicate with the locals.

* * *

"Wow, I kind of like it already," Eduardo said as soon as he entered Antonio's former place of residence which the man still owned. He even had it paid off. It was a small house that had some pretty decent furniture in it including a couch and a large TV. About the only thing he had qualms about were the glossy, painted floors which were there instead of tile or carpet, though the bedrooms were both carpeted. There were also two bathrooms, one that attached to the hallway across from the office and another that was inside what was obviously Antonio's bedroom. The guy even left his bed behind.

"This will be great. Finally! A comfortable place to sleep," Coonmon said, jumping off of his partner's shoulder before running to the couch and curling up on it. Ever since leaving the United States with whatever cash he could get out of his savings before his assets were frozen, Eduardo had to live on meager means. It didn't help that his only surviving grandparents, his father's parents, had disowned him.

Then again, his father had nothing to do with him either, ever since finding out…

Eduardo pushed the thought away and went through the bachelor's master bathroom, finding several disposable razors and a haircut kit. Apparently Antonio cut the hair of people he knew for a little extra cash on the side at one point. It would suffice in helping him find a new look.

All he would have to worry about now was food and if the old bachelor had someone come over to the house once in a while to clean, which was likely given how immaculate the place was. After removing all his facial hair and shortening the hair on his head, the teen showered and then tested out Antonio's bed, which turned out to be a water bed while he washed his clothes in the washing machine.

"This is going to take some getting used to. Man, Coonmon better not punch a hole in this thing."

After a short rest, Eduardo got up again. He checked out all the pictures on Antonio's wall, a lot of which had him in suits with other people in suits and dresses. The rogue figured it was because of the man's former occupation of a professor at the local university until he inspected the office. The man's office had a computer desk without a computer but also had a number of bookshelves with numerous books. The first bookcase consisted of various books on computer programming in both English and Spanish while the others contained either science fiction novels or religious literature.

He was most interested in the computer programming books, thinking that maybe he could bypass his colleague's idea of using a computer programmer he knew. After looking it over and realizing in frustration that it went way over his head, he decided to just go with his colleague's plan anyway. He was an artist, not a programmer.

* * *

"The man's a wannabe Emperor," Renamon commented. "This should be interesting. At least he doesn't have access to any dark rings."

"The crest-program of Desire, huh?" Rika asked before pulling out the cards she won at the tournament from her deck box that was attached to her belt. "Whose idea was it to create these?"

"Mine," Antonio said, raising his hand. "I suggested them to Mizuno, who thought it was a good idea since there were bound to be Tamers in areas where the card game is banned. I got the idea from the TV Show, actually."

Rika rolled her eyes. Was there an idea of the Chilean man that didn't backfire unexpectedly? She pulled out her deck and looked at one of the cards that she won in the last tournament, the Digi-egg of Desire, and examined it. It was a blood-red digi-egg that had a pair of red bat wings coming from the top of it. On the front was a symbol that looked like a jagged orange flame.

"How many crest programs are there?" one of the other leaders, a dark-haired boy with an orange jacket, asked.

"Fifteen. It seems that Tamers with those 'dark crests' tend to be rogue," Antonio explained.

"What kind of crests do we have?" Ryouma inquired.

The large man pulled out his white digivice to check using a program he added to allow him to check that very stat. "You have Knowledge. Rika has Friendship. Takato has Tenacity, which is an incredibly rare crest program to have. According to records, you actually used that quality to reach a higher stage, though this was before the crest programs were implemented into the digivice without bugs."

Takato was surprised. "When was that?"

"About two years ago in a battle against a group of digimon known as Parasimon. According to this, you refused to give up against the overwhelming odds that the Parasimon posed, allowing yourself to access the data belonging to Grani in order to reach Crimson Mode."

"Friendship..." Rika muttered before looking at Takato while Antonio mentioned the crests of the other leaders. _He came to check on me as a friend. Ugh, what is with me? Why won't I give him a chance? _

It was that event several weeks earlier when he asked her if she would go out with him that caused her to run away. Now she felt some regret at that decision. He was, after all, a great friend.

_Why did I run off? _She asked herself. _Why couldn't I have just told him I wasn't ready? It wouldn't have been hard and he would understand. _She was embarrassed that she kept that grudge for so long and realized that she wanted that friendship back.

The girl got up and left the room and the rest of the Tamers in it behind in confusion.

"I'm going to go back for her," Takato told a noticeably irate Yamaki.

"Make it quick," the man told him, grimacing.

* * *

Takato found Rika in the hallway outside the mainframe where Ranamon and Angewomon fought StrikeMapachemon. All the glass had been cleaned up but there was still a broken window. Looking on in the distance, past the edge of the city, Takato could see that there were storm clouds approaching. Rika was gazing at the various boroughs of Tokyo, taking in everything. Takato thought she didn't notice his approach, and thought it best to leave, but as he started to walk away, the red-head spoke.

"Takato… please stay," she said, quietly.

The goggle-headed boy stopped and turned around, looking warily at the girl. _What does she want to talk about? _He asked himself. After a few seconds of awkward silence, during which Takato wanted to bolt, she finally turned toward him and spoke again.

"I need your opinion, Takato. Am I a good friend?"

The brown-haired boy was taken aback by the question. "Of course you are. You've got Miki and Ayaka practically looking up to you and then there's Jeri."

"What about toward you?"

He somehow knew this was going to happen. "Uh…"

"I'm not, aren't I? Everything goes back to two years ago… Remember shortly after the battle against the Parasimon when we went on a mission to Koto to investigate the two new Tamers there?" she asked, a spark of determination coming into her voice.

"Yeah," Takato admitted, though it was a memory he would like to forget. "You told me you didn't want to have a relationship."

"Then there was that time a few weeks ago. I was so immature! Instead of doing the right thing to salvage our friendship, I just snapped. And then I refused to talk to you."

"Rika… don't worry. We all make mistakes," he said. "We were too young, that's all it was."

"No, it was more than that. Diaz claimed we had something in common, but that was a complete lie. He doesn't know anything about me. He claimed our relationships with our fathers is similar, but… really, when it comes down to it, the reason why I act so tough is because I don't want to be like my mom. And that was what I was afraid of back then."

_Oh…_ Takato realized. He didn't know what to think or how to feel since he still had both of his parents. Now he realized that she was afraid of him leaving her like her father did. "Don't worry, Rika, I won't leave you behind. I'll always be your friend," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you." Then she looked a bit down the hall to see Ezekiel. "Were you there the whole time?" she asked in English, slightly peeved that he would be standing there. She took Takato's hand off her shoulder.

"More or less. I'd rather not find out what you two were talking about. You were using quite a few terms I didn't understand."

"Yeah, it's called a private conversation," the red-head told him. "And if you could understand certain parts and if you tell _anyone _about it, expect me to knock you out and take you to America to collect my reward!" The girl threatened with a closed fist. However, Ezekiel didn't seem to take her warning _that _seriously.

"Consider my lips sealed. As it is, I didn't hear any of your intimate secrets anyway since I still don't understand Japanese very well."

"What do you mean by intimate?" Takato asked in confusion.

"You'll see when you come across the tabloids tomorrow and find your face on the cover," he joked. "Now, where was I? That's quite a bit of damage. They better get it patched up before that storm comes in." Rika gave Ezekiel a bit of a dirty look.

"So, why are you here, anyway?" Takato asked curiously.

"Yamaki decided to have a break since you two left abruptly, so I came out here to look for a vending machine and see what you were up to." Then the Tamer got out a bag of some bizarre chip that Takato had tried once and absolutely hated. "Want some Funyuns?"

Takato felt sick to his stomach. "I think I'll pass."

"Yeah, they're not my cup of tea, either," Rika commented, getting this nasty taste in her mouth suddenly from a memory of when she tried those.

"Oh well, more for me…" Ezekiel said. "I'll see you back in the meeting. Apparently Yamaki is going to be making an announcement about the teams."

"What a weird guy," Rika commented. "So, want to go back before Yamaki sends us a search party."

Takato laughed at that. "Sure thing. Somehow I get the feeling that if I was gone long enough, Yamaki would attempt to name Henry leader in place of me."

"Or worse, Kazu," Rika remarked, heading back to the meeting room.

"Yeah, that would end up _real _well. Can you imagine him coordinating for a mass bioemergence?"

"He'd probably panic and barricade himself in his closet or something," Rika joked.

_And to think that Koji was willing to let him come to the World Tournament with me. Man, just two more weeks…_

"What are you thinking about?" Rika asked.

"Uh, just the tournament that's coming up. You think that it'll be on TV?"

Rika laughed. "Yeah, right? Are tournaments ever on TV? What station do you think it would be on? The Card Game Channel?"

"Yeah, they have Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments on there all the time," Takato joked.

"Are you serious?" the girl asked in astonishment.

Takato shook his head. "Nope. I didn't even know such a channel existed."

"It doesn't, gogglehead!" Rika indicated just as they were headed back into the meeting room. Everyone was there, seated around the table, about ready to start. Yamaki spoke as soon as the duo entered into the room.

"Ah, good. We just have one more person. It turns out that Mr. Guevara had to go wash his mouth out after trying the food that his nephew bought from the vending machine," the man said, indicating the empty chair.

"Honestly, I don't know why no one else likes this stuff," Ezekiel said calmly after dumping the last of the crumbs from the bag into his mouth.

"Wow, you are so weird," Rika remarked. "First, you act like Spock and then there's your weird taste in food."

"Fascinating," the black-haired American said as a joke.

"I didn't know you liked Star Trek?" Takato asked.

"Don't you dare tell anyone else or else!" Rika threatened jokingly, smiling while holding her fist up in the air.

Just then, Antonio walked in with a half-drank bottle of green Gatorade, which he set on the table in front of his chair. "Now, let's get back to business. I take it we won't be needing any more breaks?" Yamaki questioned the group, getting an affirmative reply from everyone. "Good. First things first, I'm splitting the Shinjuku team in two."  
"What?!" Rika exclaimed.

"That's right. You, Miki, Ayaka and Jeri are practically a team, anyway and I figured it would best for organizational purposes if you were split from Takato's team. By the way, Rika, you're considered team leader effective immediately. Also, I've decided to place Ezekiel here under your jurisdiction until we have an excuse to deport him as well as Ai and Mako. Since he's merely a Class D threat, we've decided that he's fine here as long as he behaves himself."

"Class D?" Ezekiel asked.

"Well, let's face it, your record of dealing with other digimon of your partner's maximum level isn't particularly spotless. In fact, from Echelon's record of your defeat in Vegas, you actually lost to a Champion."

"Ugh, why does everyone have to bring that up?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Can you tell us the story?" Rika asked.

"Another time," the black-haired boy responded. "Believe me, it's not something I want to remember."

"Not to mention, it isn't exactly pertinent to this meeting's goals," Yamaki indicated, working his way through his papers. "Also, I have a picture of Eduardo Diaz after he was arrested briefly by the Americans a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, he's much like you described him, bearded. Now, how could a sixteen-year-old possibly grow that much of a beard?"

"Hereditary factors. Maybe he has ancestry with fast growing hair," Antonio suggested. "I knew a kid in school who had to shave every day at that age or else he'd have gotten a beard within a week."

"Plus, razors aren't exactly high on the priority list when you're on the run. I was lucky I even grabbed mine," Ezekiel added. "Plus, I shave in the shower, so I ultimately had to grab the shampoo as well. I'm sure my older brother must have been pretty ticked."

"Somehow I can see that putting Diego over the edge," Antonio muttered to himself. _Then again, his brother being branded a rogue and running away would probably delay that thought. _Suddenly, Antonio realized something, causing his eyes to widen. "So that's what you've been doing with the shampoo!" the large man exclaimed, getting up and pointing at his nephew who flinched.

"That, along with my body hair, particularly…"

"Now that's enough!" Yamaki interrupted. "This meeting is _not_ a place for the discussion of your personal hygiene! Just settle down and don't mention it again. Now, I'm going to need a volunteer to go to America to get a good picture of Diego. It seems we've been having trouble in that regard for whatever reason and we can't find a good one."

"How about his yearbook photo?" Takato suggested.

"That was whited out online somehow. Perhaps someone could find a personal copy of someone who went to his school or better yet go to that school's library. Strange, I didn't think he was a hacker…" Yamaki remarked. "And if that doesn't work, perhaps we can find a personal photo, possibly one from his mother's house since she still lives in Vegas."

"I'll go," Rika volunteered, raising her hand before giving any of the others a chance.

"Rika?" Takato asked in surprise.

"Last night, that idiot said something about his relationship with his father. Maybe that's what screwed him up."

"That's a gross simplification. His parents divorced when he was ten. That could hardly have been the beginning of his descent," Yamaki objected.

"Maybe there's more to it. How old was he when his parents got married?" She asked.

"Four. They got married in 1993 and divorced in 1998 shortly after his tenth birthday."

_He sounds pretty close in age to Diego, perhaps even older, _Ezekiel thought to himself.

"What if that man wasn't his real father?" Rika suggested.

"His name is on the birth certificate. It says Marcos Diaz."

Still, the girl was going to get to the bottom of this. "There seems to be some sort of animosity towards him. Maybe he was abusive or something."

Yamaki looked through the report. "There's no record of that, though… strange… according to the custody report on the boy, his father gave up custody about two years ago."

"That means something was up," Ryo said. "I'd say Rika should check more into this."

"I agree with Akiyama," Ryouma stated. "However, I must caution that she not let her personal feelings get in the way of the job."

"Good. She'll fly out first thing tomorrow morning," Yamaki affirmed.

"Actually, I have a better idea," Rika said. "I've been getting Renamon to teleport in her higher forms and with the larger amount of energy, she can go farther. I think that as Taomon, she can reach Las Vegas only using the knowledge a map can give her. That is, if she's up to it."

"I think I will be. I feel pretty good right now," the fox responded.

"Also, what school did Eduardo go to? That information would be incredibly useful for Rika," Ezekiel inquired.

"Cheyenne High School."

"The same one I went to since January," Ezekiel remarked. "This should be interesting. Enjoy Chey-Town, Rika."

"Is that what they actually call it?" Rika asked, doubtful that the student body could be so stupid.

"Yes, and Mojave is Mo-Town. It was kind of irritating hearing the morning announcements. 'What up, Chey Town?'" Ezekiel added. "For some reason, it reminds me of a gang culture."

"Those are slang terms for Chicago and Detroit," Yamaki stated much to everyone's shock about him knowing about that. "What?"

"Well, Las Vegas doesn't have a shortage of gangs," Antonio said. "At least that was what I noticed when I made a wrong turn into the bad section of town. Talk about ugly!"

"Yes, well, if you see my brother or any of the other Tamers of Vegas, say hi," Ezekiel told. "Also, stay out of the ghetto."

"What about any other people on this case in the United States?" Rika asked.

Yamaki smiled. "I'm glad you asked. Eduardo has a former team member named Andrew and you'll be able to find his address in this paperwork. They didn't end on particularly good terms, especially since the tamed digimon that Coonmon deleted belonged to his friends."

Rika smiled at the opportunity. "Alright, I'll get over there tomorrow morning."

After that, the meeting was more or less adjourned.

* * *

"Hey, Rika!" Takato greeted as the group left the meeting room. "Ryo and I were wondering if you'd like to come and eat with us."

Rika raised an eyebrow as she looked at the boy. "This better not be a date…"

"Don't worry! We're just going to go out as friends. I was also thinking of calling Henry to invite him along." Then the brown-haired boy noticed Ezekiel and Antonio walk past him. "Hey, Ezekiel, you want to come with us?"

Ezekiel stopped and turned. "Uh, I don't know…"

"Go ahead!" Antonio exclaimed, giving his nephew a slap on the back towards the other Tamers. "You need a social life, kid, and I mean other than going to Henry's house for Japanese lessons."

The black-haired teen chuckled. "And what are _you _going to do tonight, uncle?"

"Well, I was thinking of staying here at Hypnos to try and get some work done on the Biomerging algorithm with Mizuno. Besides, it's not like I can just hang around you kids. That'd just be creepy."

"Okay, I'll come along. What were you thinking of doing?" Ezekiel asked the group.

"Well, I was thinking of going and grabbing lunch and then playing a few rounds of laser tag," Takato said.

"Laser tag?" Rika asked, not believing what she just heard. "How are we going to do that with the digimon in tow? Renamon can't exactly hold a light gun, you know."

"Neither can Dobermon. Also, my partner absolutely detests being in his lower forms. He had to spend a couple days as Xiaomon after our defeat by Eduardo, so that feeling may be justified," the black-haired boy said while scratching his chin. "So, where are we going to eat?"

Ryo spoke up. "There's this one Brazilian place I've been wanting to check out."

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow. "Brazilian? That… should be interesting."

"Isn't your uncle Brazilian or something?" the Legendary Tamer asked.

"No, he's Chilean, just like both my parents. Yes, we're from the same continent. Ironically, Brazil is one of the few countries in South America where they don't speak Spanish, instead speaking Portuguese. My uncle was telling me about when he worked there for a little while in the mid-nineties before getting his PHD."

"Now, what about Diaz?" Rika asked.

"His parents are Uruguayan. That's on the Atlantic coast. Funny, he's the only one I've met whose family is from that country. Every other Hispanic in Vegas seems to be Mexican, to be honest. I have met a few Argentineans, though and from what I hear, their accents are quite similar to the Uruguayans. Oh, and I also have a close friend who's Puerto Rican."

It was at about that time that the group reached the elevator. "Bottom floor, here we come!" Guilmon said.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Takato admitted, walking into the elevator along with the dino.

"Okay, let's go then!" Ryo cheered as he, Ezekiel and Rika went inside the elevator along with their partners with the exception of Cyberdramon who was outside the building.

* * *

The following day, Eduardo arrived in Frankfurt, Germany to meet his contact. He was waiting at a train station, gazing at the bricked roads and anxious to get this over with. He felt his foot tapping against the ground. He had his computer in his hand while he left the Antonio's at the man's old house in Chile.

_So, after this, you're going to get rid of it, right? _He heard Coonmon ask through their telepathic rapport.

_Yes, I know exactly where to put it, _Eduardo replied. He was wearing a beige newsboy hat over his now-bald head. He had to get rid of all that hair some way or another. It was a pain to wash in the shower. Thankfully, despite Echelon's jurisdiction having recently expanded to cover large parts of Western Europe, nobody's even noticed his presence.

_Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like your idea?_

_ What makes you say that?_

_ Just the emotions you're giving off._

Eduardo paused before formulating his response. He wished their bond wasn't that strong. _I'm just tired of stealing, that's all._

_Ha ha, you should have said that, months ago!_

Eduardo was starting to get annoyed with the giant rodent in his backpack. He was also getting fed up with this whole mission and was on the verge of turning back before he saw a familiar and extremely scrawny teenager walk toward him and his partner. The other teen was a few inches taller than Eduardo, measuring in at six foot while Eduardo was a mere 5' 7". The chubby teen paid no heed to the height difference. "So, where is he?"

"First the data and then him," the scrawny teen said.

"It's all on my computer," Eduardo responded. "Where's your partner digimon?"

"Oh, you know Strabimon. He's hiding in plain sight as usual," the brown-haired teen said. "He's ready to strike if you make a wrong move."

Eduardo nodded. "Alright, so you'll take me to the guy?"

"Yes, right now, he's at my house, working on a game engine project that he's apparently been working on since before the disaster at the Nationals in the America. It's called RPG Developer, if I remember right. "

"I've messed around with that one before. Alright, Pride, at least that means he's already an accomplished programmer. How are you sure he can work on the digivice?"

"Well, he's already experimented with the basic SDK that's available on the internet. I think he was considering making a port of that game engine to the digivice, even though there aren't enough Tamers to make it worth it."

"Well, he's going to love this. I checked out the code and I couldn't wrap my head around it though I could read the comments."

The taller boy chuckled a little bit. "That figures. Just remember to call me Greg while we're at my house, okay?"

"That's the plan!"

"Hear from Darkness, any?" Greg asked as the two started walking.

"A couple weeks ago I went to bug him in jail. He's still rotting away in it."

The brown-haired teen smiled at the fate of their former colleague. "I never liked him much, anyway."

_But you have to feel sorry for him somewhat, _Eduardo thought before Coonmon shut him up.

_Sorrow's a weakness. Don't think about him. _The black-haired boy resolved to stop that. He's already spent enough time on that as it is.

Now the plan was beginning to unfold. After the programming was done, their next stop would be the tournament.

* * *

Next Chapter: Another Team

A/N: Those other four crests (Darkness, Desire, Pride (or Boastfulness, I like Pride better) and Tenacity) are canon as Digi-eggs, though they're never used for armor digivolution (Darkness actually has a card in the Japanese card game. Its effect is causing digimon to digivolve to Champion). Funny, I never see any of these in fanfiction, except for Darkness, which is usually used by a Gary Stu trying to get into Kari's pants (though the one fic I read like that had a few other retarded things in it such as Myotismon coming back… again! Only to be killed off-screen by Daemon. Oh, and Dagomon never showed up for as long as I read it... Why not?)


	5. Around the World

Chapter 5: Around the World

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A big thanks to CrazyEight for his beta-reading and insight.

* * *

He ran through the building silently and stealthily, holding his gun up to shoot anyone that got in his way, getting ready to reach the spot where he could shoot each of his enemies without them noticing. He climbed up the stairs and walked over to the edge, trying to move in a clandestine way so that nobody would see him as he made his move. It was then that he spotted his target through the fog. The dark, misty corridors couldn't mask this one. He aimed and he pulled the trigger.

Then the lights on his jacket started to go off. He looked behind himself and saw that he had been attacked by another enemy. Then, just as the alarm stopped, he heard it go off again. He looked down to see that the person he was trying to attack had shot him as well.

He frowned. This wasn't going to be an easy match…

* * *

"I hope that I got a good enough score that Ezekiel will notice," Miki commented as she walked out of the laser tag arena with Ayaka close behind. The two girls sat down as the others came out. Everyone was sweating quite a bit after that little hurrah.

"I wonder what everyone got," Ayaka said. "I bet Rika was pretty good."

Just then, Ezekiel plopped down right next to the blonde, obviously exhausted and not even noticing her or her friend. This caused the girl to flinch a little bit since she was dealing with someone who was wanted in America.

The Tamers all looked up at the board. The first place winner was Ryo. "Wow, I can't believe I got it…" the tanned tamer said.

"Woohoo! Second place!" Kazu cheered. Rika rolled her eyes. She did notice that she scored third while Takato scored fifth. Miki scored eighth while Ayaka got eleventh and Kenta got twelfth. Ezekiel was dead last at fifteenth.

"And here I thought I could play better than this. I guess I was wrong," the black-haired Tamer grumbled. Also much to Miki's dismay, he didn't notice her sitting a couple seats down from him. The dark-haired girl was getting to be quite livid, at least until Ayaka changed the subject.

"Out of curiosity, Miki, did you get homework done for tomorrow?" the blonde asked.

"Um… I completely forgot!" the girl exclaimed, panicking.

"Great, I was hoping to check my answers against yours," Ayaka explained with a bit of an eye-roll as everyone started to leave the arena.

"That was fun," Takato commented as the group walked out of the laser tag place and over to a nearby park where their partner digimon were hanging out. "Maybe we should do it again, sometime. Sorry about your score, Ezekiel."

The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry about it. It's just a stupid game. My friend Chris would always drag me to it."

"What's he like?" Kazu asked, drinking a bottle of soda.

"Well, he's this big, ugly Puerto Rican guy who somehow has a lot of friends from all over the valley. I keep on joking that he should become a Tamer, but he's content the way things are."

"So, tell us a little bit more about yourself, other than your love of strange food like chicken hearts and Funyuns," Rika requested, referencing the meat that only the American ate while they were at a Brazilian restaurant earlier. "Do you have any hobbies?"

Ezekiel thought about it. "Back in America, I practiced my guitar every day. Unfortunately, I kind of left that behind."

"Funny, I never fancied you as a musician," Rika said with a hint of a smile. "I play that too, by the way."

"I've been playing since middle school when I took a class for it. I didn't think much of it at first, but then my friend Chris had my brother and I join him in making music and annoying the neighbors in his apartment complex."

Rika laughed at that one. "That makes me glad my house isn't that close to other houses. As it is, I have a soundproof room where I do all my practice."

"I take it you have an amplifier?" Ezekiel inquired.

"Oh yeah. So, what does your brother play?"

"The saxophone," Ezekiel said, matter-of-factly. "He took band, I took guitar. Back then, I had delusions of being a rock star. Unfortunately, my songwriting needs work. My brother claims it's too depressing."

"Listen to upbeat music, then," Takato suggested. "I'm sure there are plenty of bands like that."

"Then again, my favorite band is Nightwish, my brother likes Coldplay for some reason," Ezekiel mentioned. "And my dad listens to Maná all the time." He was referring to a Finnish Symphonic Metal band, a British Alternative Rock band and a popular Mexican rock band.

"Maná? Never heard of them," Terriermon commented as soon as the group entered into the park. It just had to be him, even though Henry didn't meet them for laser tag. Ezekiel narrowed his eyes at the rabbit, his mortal enemy. Thankfully, Henry was nearby to keep his partner in check, as were all the partner digimon who were hanging out in the deepest parts of the park.

"What's up?" Henry asked. "Sorry, I couldn't make it. I had some martial arts lessons today. So, what's the scoop?"

"Rika's going to Vegas!" Kazu exclaimed. "Man, I wish I could go!"

Rika chuckled. "Hey, it's just an information gathering mission. It's not like I'm going to go tour the Strip or anything," she said.

"Are you sure you're ready for another mission?" Henry asked out of concern of his red-haired friend and her fox partner.

"Despite my injuries yesterday, I am perfectly alright," Renamon explained to the boy as she walked up to her partner from behind.

"So, when do you leave?" the dark-haired boy inquired.

"Early tomorrow morning," Rika responded.

* * *

The next morning, now late afternoon in Vegas, Taomon teleported into the middle of the courtyard of the massive building that once served as a place of learning for Eduardo Diaz and let Rika down before devolving back into Renamon. The red-head was bewildered at first by the bluish-white brick building around her but regained her composure, reminding herself that there was a strong possibility that any Tamer that happened to be nearby was notified of her location. Thankfully she already had clearance with Echelon, so even if she was caught, they would know that she was there on official business.

Getting past the feeling of being lost, Rika checked the lower levels for any sign of the school's library. She was amazed at how large the building was and at the same time wondered at the waste of space. Just on the edge of the courtyard, she found the cafeteria before checking out the bottom part of the main building which turned out to consist of all the administrative offices.

"You'd think that they would make this place easier to find…" she muttered to herself before sighing. _Why did I have to choose this assignment?_

Thankfully, Renamon showed up. "I found it," the vixen said.

"Good. You think you can teleport me in there?" the red-head asked, eliciting a nod from her partner who scooped her up in her arms and used her technique, bringing Rika inside the library.

Looking out the window, Rika could see that she was on the second story with a view to the courtyard. "Find anything else interesting, Renamon?" the red-head asked.

"There was a large ramp on the other side of the library from the courtyard."

"Sounds like something used for wheelchair access."

"Also, I found the bathrooms. However, they seem to smell of tobacco and other illegal substances."

"Oh, brother…" The two then combed the library for any sign of a yearbook, checking each of the spines. They finally came across the previous school-year's volume in the reference section and Rika proceeded to put it down on a nearby table.

"Out of curiosity, does school start at a different time of year in America?" Renamon asked as Rika flipped through the pages. She figured that since Eduardo was sixteen, he was most likely a sophomore during the previous year.

"Yeah, here it starts in August or September while in Japan, it usually starts in April."

"Why the difference?"

"Beats me. It's probably for some stupid reason."

"Hmm…" Just as Rika finished the sophomore section of the yearbook, Renamon stopped. "There's a digimon approaching," she warned.

Rika wasn't too concerned. "How strong?"

"Champion… no, Rookie. I think it just de-digivolved."

"He wasn't a tenth-grader last year. I'm going to have to check the ninth grade section. Great…" Rika was irritated by the potential of someone getting in the way of her research. She checked her digivice to see that whoever she was about to meet was on campus, but she didn't bother checking to see who it was. Instead, she continued to look through the yearbook, despite that momentary pause.

Just as she was about to land on Eduardo's page, she heard the lock get picked by someone with a hairpin.

As she turned the page, the door opened and Rika turned around to face a black-haired girl holding out a purple digivice with a white ring around the screen. Rika had to guess that the girl was yet another person of Latin American ancestry, but with a darker skin tone and a few freckles on her face. Her hair was wavy and in a pony-tail while she had a pair of glasses. She was also wearing a purple shirt and a pair of jeans.

The first word out of the mystery girl's mouth was a single syllable. "Freeze!"

With that, Rika pulled her papers out of her pocket indicating that she was authorized to work in Echelon's jurisdiction. The girl was bewildered by the papers, which was written in both English and Japanese. "Oh, you're Hypnos."

"Yeah," Rika responded.

"Do you by any chance know any of the…" The girl noticed Renamon and put two and two together. Her eyes got wide in shock. "Oh, you're Rika Nonaka!"

"Uh, how…"

"Wow! I can't believe it. One of the Tamers who fought the D-Reaper!" The girl went from serious cop to giddy fangirl in a matter of seconds.

"Uh, yeah…"

The girl then shook Rika's hand hard. "My name is Consuelo Ortiz and this is my partner, Falcomon," she said, indicating a large owl behind her who reacted shyly with a wave.

"Hi..."

"So, what brings you here?" the girl asked.

"I'm trying to find some info on someone named Eduardo Diaz. You know him?"

The girl shook her head. "The name sounds familiar. I may have had a couple classes with him, but I'm not sure."

Rika then looked at the yearbook and her eyes homed in on where the picture of Eduardo was. Unfortunately, it looked like someone vandalized it by scribbling over it with permanent marker. "Ah, nuts."

Consuelo was a bit astonished. "Whoa. Who would do such a thing, and to the school yearbook too? I mean, I remember a friend of mine putting devil horns on a couple of people he didn't like in his personal copy, but this…"

"Wow… this guy really doesn't want us finding him, does he?" Rika asked. "He's a highly dangerous former Vegas resident."

"He's a Tamer?" the girl asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"What's his partner?"

"Coonmon."

"Never heard of it."

"Neither did we, before we encountered it," Renamon answered for her partner. "He is responsible for the deaths of various partner digimon in the Vegas area."

The girl was in shock at this. She already seemed a bit emotional for Rika's taste, but then again, so were most girls. "That's just horrible!"

Rika agreed. "No kidding."

"I detected a few extra digivice signals that belonged to kids without partners, but I didn't think… I need to talk to the others about this."

"I'm sure they already know," Rika said. "Do you know if any of them ever encountered any of the Tamers of Vegas from before them?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should come and ask them. I'll introduce you to the rest of my team if you'd like." The girl's smile returned, though only slightly which was expected given what she had just learned. "So, why are you after this guy if he committed all those crimes here?"

"We think he may have stolen the tools for making a program that can help anyone reach the Mega Level in the real world."

The girl was surprised again. "You mean… But I thought you guys could reach it in the real world."

"We can, but only after a digimon named Dobermon sacrificed its life for us," Renamon explained. As far as Rika could tell, the girl was definitely a rookie. Where the rest of her team was, she didn't know, but she felt kind of bad since if she _was _hostile, the girl probably wouldn't be able to stop her. She probably just followed the red-head's signal since it was her duty.

"Dobermon… I have a friend whose brother is partnered with that digimon," the girl said, but before Rika could ask if she meant Ezekiel, the girl changed the subject. "So, were you born in Japan? You speak excellent English."

"Yeah, I was. You from this country?" Rika inquired, receiving a nod.

"My grandparents moved to the States from Mexico. So, yeah, I'm pretty much a native."

Suddenly, the two girls' digivices started to beep and Consuelo checked hers. "Oh, there's a bioemergence. Diego and Kyle are probably going to go get it, but if you want, you can come and meet them. Maybe we can get some ice cream afterwards or something."

Rika thought about passing on it for a second; however she decided to go along with Consuelo's offer. "Sure."

"Yay!" Falcomon cheered.

* * *

A large, blue truck sped through the streets. One of its occupants was a boy who was about eleven who was carrying a large, round bat-like digimon. Unfortunately for him, he was relegated to the back seat while his brother and his partner were in the front. They were headed home from the bookstore when both their digivices started to beep. Since the brown-haired boy wasn't driving, he had to direct using his digivice.

"Can you stop driving so fast?" the round bat asked. "I'm getting queasy back here!"

"Oh, come on, DemiDevimon, I'm not driving _that_ fast. Plus, we're kind of in a hurry," the large teen in the front seat responded with a smile. He had black hair and was quite heavy, though he wasn't particularly tall. He was wearing a forward-facing blue baseball cap, some sunglasses, a blue shirt and some black shorts. His partner, Gaomon, was sitting in the front passenger seat.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want that whatever it is to wreck Vegas, would you?" the black digimon's partner asked.

"You know, that would be kind of fun," DemiDevimon joked. "Come on; just imagine a Greymon knocking down one of those hotels on the strip or something."

The car pulled into a patch of desert where the bioemergence was, which was most likely about to be turned into a housing development. Somehow, the duo could guess that the future residents wouldn't want a hostile digimon hanging around their neighborhood.

The two tamers and their digimon got out of the car and headed toward the bioemergence. The older one was just thankful that whatever it was didn't decide to emerge in the middle of a swimming pool or something. Then again, it was probably almost closing time for most of those. The air was still hot and they would be sweating like pigs after they dealt with this digimon. Hopefully it wouldn't result in battle. Unfortunately, that was what would probably happen.

"Diego, if this guy's friendly, I want one of my friends to have it," the brown-haired kid said.

"I'll keep that in mind. You sure their parents would want that?" Diego asked.

"Who ever said anything about _them _knowing?"

"Fernando…"

"Hey, it's a thought!" DemiDevimon said to go along with his partner's suggestion.

"Besides, we could always use more Tamers…" the kid said with a smile.

"Either that or Ezekiel could come back," Diego suggested.

"Nah, he can stay wherever he is!" DemiDevimon exclaimed, flying out of his partner's arms. "Come on, do you actually want_ that _guy around?"

"He's my brother. Of course I do. It's just…" Fernando trailed off as they entered into the dome. The eleven-year-old would never get used to the feeling of the mist against his skin, especially since it was so rare in Vegas, a town that rarely gets fog. It was more common in Oxnard, the place where he moved from that January, though. The boy opened his eyes after making his way through it to spot a strange, eyeless, green digimon. Or at least green-armored. The digimon seemed to be holding mirrors and also had a mirror attached to his oddly-shaped body.

"Ah, so the humans have come to visit," the digimon stated. "What want ye with me?"

"My name is Diego and we're just here to see whether you've come in peace or not," the chubby boy said, pulling off his sunglasses and putting them in his pocket.

"And my name is Mercurymon," the digimon's mouth curled up into a smile, and not a very good one. "As ye are humans, ye are mine enemies. Ye are not privy to mine affairs!"

"Actually, I am," the black-haired teen said as his digivice started to glow. It was another hostile one alright.

"Gaomon digivolve to… Gaogamon!"

"DemiDevimon digivolve to… Devimon!"

"Okay, bro, remember to stay on the sidelines. Mom and dad would kill me if something happened to you," Diego explained.

"Why do you have to say that every time?" Fernando complained, already beyond Mercurymon's reach.

"Ah, humans, ye are so weak. Must ye send your own digimon to meet me? Especially, thou, small one. Thou art the most pathetic knave I have ever seen."

"That's my partner you're talking about you little green man. Perhaps it would be best if you went back to Mars where you belong," Devimon taunted as Mercurymon moved forward.

"Must thou defend something so useless?" the green digimon asked as it attempted to punch Devimon with his shield. The leather-clad digimon dodged just in time to try clawing the green mutant with his left hand, however, his claws couldn't pierce Mercurymon's armor.

"Ha, thou art weaker than I thought."

"Put a sock in it, Shakespeare! Death Hand!" Once Devimon was a short distance away from Mercurymon, he unleashed a sphere of dark energy at the green-armored mutant, who blocked with his shield, absorbing the attack.

"Dark Reflection!" the green digimon yelled out, but before he could unleash Devimon's own attack against him, he was tackled by Gaogamon, who caused his attack to go off into the sky instead.

"Gaoga Hound!" the blue wolf shouted, biting into Mercurymon's arm just before the enemy digimon kicked the canine upward. The mutant then struck Gaogamon with his shield, launching the wolf straight into Devimon. The black digimon got out of the way just in time, dodging to the right before unleashing another attack of his own.

"Death Hand!" The energy blast was again absorbed by Mercurymon, who unleashed another dark reflection attack against Devimon, launching him straight into Gaogamon. "Now, for your downfall, mine enemies! Ye shall be deleted and absorbed. It should be an honor."

"Come on, come on!" Diego exclaimed, wanting to find a good card to help his partner out.

"Digi-Modify! Rock Armor!" Fernando slid the card through his grey and black digivice before watching as Mercurymon's shield failed to break through his partner's defenses.

"Pah! What a pathetic defense."

Suddenly, the cry of a large digimon in the sky was heard. "Air Burst!" A sphere of compressed air hit the mirror-wielding digimon directly on his central mirror. Diego looked up to see who had come.

As the viral version of Appamon landed on the ground, a pale, skinny teenager with curly brown hair jumped off and his partner devolved into ViElecmon.

"Man, and here I thought you wouldn't need my help…" the guy said.

"It's a tougher battle than we thought it would be," Diego responded.

"And it certainly is not over," Mercurymon said. "Ye certainly are not going to win with just one more person!"

The curly-haired teen smiled mischievously. "Vi? Are you ready to punch the snot out of Shakespeare of Mars here?"

"Certainly am, Kyle. Just digivolve me already!"

"Gladly!" The guy exclaimed, holding out his digivice. "Digivolution Activate!"

"ViElecmon digivolve to… Löwemon!"

A tall, humanoid digimon with black armor in the form of a lion appeared in the rabbit's place. "So, ready to get your butt kicked, you Mars Attacks reject?"

"Hehe, I made a similar joke," Devimon remarked.

"It's not funny," Gaogamon said while trying to get out from under the leather-clad digimon.

"Ah, a Löwemon… we are similar digimon, knewest thou that?"

"Yeah, right, bub? You sound like you learned English from reading the King James Bible or something!"

"Ha ha. I wish I knew what you were talking about, thou traitor to Digimon kind. Thou art quite pathetic, letting yourself be used by such an inferior species. We are Legendary Warriors, canst though see?"

Löwemon smiled under his armor. "Sure, like that means anything when you're such a psycho. I mean, golly, what a weirdo thou art!"

Mercurymon found Löwemon's use of 'golly' offensive, since it was apparently a swear in Elizabethan English. "How darest thou use such coarse language! Thou shalt pay for thine insolence!" It was about that time when he was struck in the back by the other two digimon, knocking him to the ground.

"Oh, gee, sorry! Let's see, Shadow Lance!" the black-armored digimon shouted, spinning his lance and moving it forward.

"Gaoga Hound!" Gaogamon yelled out, biting the enemy digimon in the other arm as he was struck in the chest by Löwemon's lance.

"Death Hand!"Devimon yelled out, unleashing his attack at Mercurymon's center, causing the enemy digimon to lose its solid form and disintegrate.

The enemy digimon's data floated into the air. However, something else appeared in its place, a bizarre object that was shaped much like his armor on a hexagonal slab. The object floated into Kyle's digivice and a message appeared, saying: "Human Spirit of Steel Acquired."

"That's… interesting," Kyle remarked.

"What do you think it's for?" Diego asked as he looked at the digivice.

Shrugging, Kyle answered. "Beats me."

"So you guys are the Tamers of Vegas. To be honest, I was expecting a bit more." The boys looked around to see a red-haired Japanese girl and her foxlike partner. Kyle smiled upon seeing her.

"Rika! What are you doing here?" he asked excitedly, happy to see her. It had been a couple years and yet he still remembered that red-head with a feisty attitude that he met in the digital world.

"Oh, I was just in the neighborhood. Any of you have any information on Eduardo Diaz?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"Never heard of him," Diego replied.

"That guy, huh? I hear he's a real bad dude," Kyle commented. "What makes you want to look for him?"

"I met him a couple nights ago," the red-head replied.

"Yeah, she told me he took something that will help Tamers to digivolve to Mega in the real world," Consuelo added.

"Lovely," Kyle said, scratching his chin. "Sounds like you've got a real problem on your hands."

"That's putting it mildly." So, Rika told the group her story of what happened the other night as well as what happened afterwards.

"So, what's my uncle doing in Japan?" Diego asked in surprise.

"Oh, he moved there to work for Hypnos," Rika replied.

"Wait, Uncle Tonio's in Japan?" Fernando asked. "We should go and visit!"

"I'm not sure if our parents would let us. Remember, school's starting in a few weeks and before that I'm going with Kyle to the tournament," Diego replied.

Rika looked at the large boy in disbelief before turning to Kyle. "You're going to the World Championship?"

Kyle nodded and smiled even wider. "Yep, I won at nationals. It was pretty fun. It's a small world, ain't it?"

"That's putting it mildly." Rika was already surprised that she'd see anybody she had already met, however, meeting a fellow contestant for the world tournament was something else.

"Oh, yeah, guess what?" Fernando asked all of the sudden excitedly. Rika wasn't amused.

"What?"

"I scared Eduardo Diaz off, now that I think about it," the brown-haired kid said. "He was in Vegas during the national tournament and I had to take care of him! Man, and to think I almost forgot!"

Everyone, especially Diego, was mortified at the revelation.

"You confronted Eduardo Diaz without calling for backup?" the large teen asked in serious dread.

"Oh, yeah! It was so cool, too. Then again, the only other Tamer in town was Claire and she lives all the way in Henderson." The town the kid mentioned was on the opposite end of Vegas from where they lived.

"Okay, what happened?" Rika asked with slight disbelief that the kid could possibly have confronted Eduardo Diaz and still have a living partner.

"DemiDevimon, you have better memory than me," Fernando told his partner as a hint that he should do the talking.

"Well, during the last tournament, Fernando and I were swimming in the backyard, or at least Fernando was…"

* * *

_A grey and black digivice sitting on a patio table started to beep. DemiDevimon looked over from the lawn chair that he was lounging on to see that so he went over and grabbed it just as his partner got out of the water. "Hey, how the heck do you turn this thing on, anyway?" the bat asked._

_ "Oh, let me see," his partner said, picking up the device and accessing its holographic display. "Cool, there's a rogue Tamer in town!" he exclaimed excitedly._

_ "How is that cool?" DemiDevimon asked._

_ "Come on, let me go put a shirt and some shoes on and we can go stop this guy from taking over the world or something!" Fernando exclaimed, drying off, overly excited to meet a rogue._

_ A few minutes later, the kid and his partner were in a different section of their neighborhood where Eduardo was, following the compass to the rogue's house. Just as they reached the door, it opened and Eduardo, with a slightly shorter beard than when he fought Rika and Coonmon on his shoulder, walked out. The teenager basically walked past Fernando without acknowledging his presence. "Hey, you, Eddy Diaz! What's going on, huh?" the boy exclaimed as his partner started to shrink back in fear. Hearing his much dreaded nickname made Eduardo stop and turn around._

_ "What do you want?" the teen asked with only a slight bit of malice in his voice._

_ "You're a rogue Tamer, right? Well, you're under arrest for… um…" The brown-haired boy paused for a second to try and think of what to say next._

_ "Oh, great, you don't even know what I did," the teen said calmly. Obviously, he didn't consider Fernando worth his time and simply turned away. _

_ "Well, I'm here to arrest you. DemiDevimon, it's time for you to digivolve!"_

_ Ed rolled his eyes. "Okay, kid, what's the highest level your partner can reach?" he asked._

_ "Uh, Champion. But if I fight you, I'll probably digivolve him to Ultimate! It always happened on the TV show."_

_ "Not worth my time." The teen grabbed onto his partner to hold him off from going and deleting DemiDevimon, anyway._

_ "Well, guess what? It's totally worth mine!"_

_ Eduardo stopped and put his partner on the ground. "Super Digivolution Activate!"_

_ "Coonmon digivolve to… StrikeMapachemon!" The large, winged Ultimate appeared in his rookie form's place, looking down on Fernando and DemiDevimon. The bat felt himself shake with fear at the sight, but his tamer pushed on._

_ "Oh, cool, you're actually going to fight me!"_

_ "NO! Now stop telling me that you little brat!" Eduardo snapped, yelling at the kid. "StrikeMapachemon, ignore them and take me out of the country." With that, the Ultimate picked up his partner and flew off._

_ "Yeah, run away you pansy! Know that Fernando Guevara was going to kick your butt!" the kid yelled to the sky, shaking his fist as the rogue flew away._

* * *

Kyle was laughing at the absurdity of the situation, Diego's jaw was on the floor, Consuelo had her hand on her mouth while her eyes were far wider than what was natural and Rika had her hand on her forehead in an epic facepalm. "I can't believe you could be so stupid!" the girl exclaimed.

"Yeah, next time a rogue Tamer comes into town, do not go after him alone, okay?" Diego chastised him angrily. "Honestly, who knows what he would have done to you."

"Hey, come on, the guy was a total chicken," Fernando said.

"No, there was obviously something on his mind that he had to deal with before fighting a random six-year-old," Renamon explained.

"I'm not six! I'm eleven!"

"Still, you were acting like one," Rika said. "Heck, not even _my_ gogglehead was ever that stupid."

"Oh, I so knew it!" Kyle exclaimed, imagining Rika and Takato together.

"You want to tell me what you knew to my fist?" the red-head asked, with a glare that could cause even the strongest willed men to shrink back.

"No, I'm good," Kyle assured her, raising his hands up just in case.

"By the way, whatever happened to your goggles?" Rika asked Kyle.

"Oh, I gave them to Fernando, actually." Rika shook her head.

"Let me guess, he's a total gogglehead?" ViElecmon asked.

"Definitely. So, I hear you guys like to go out to eat after dealing bioemergences," Rika said, spotting a group of bewildered boys.

"You just had to tell her, didn't you?" Diego asked Consuelo, who nodded with a smile.

* * *

A few minutes later, the group was at some restaurant which specialized in chicken fingers and was apparently started by someone who liked their Labrador retriever a _lot_. Rika thought the food was okay, though not the best she had ever tasted. After a few minutes, Diego walked out to the patio and then Consuelo followed. It was starting to get dark and Rika would have to get going pretty soon, but she could stay a few minutes, even if she had to deal with Kyle, ViElecmon, DemiDevimon and Fernando's conversation. Eventually, she decided to follow Consuelo outside.

The two tamers were talking while their partners kept at a safe distance. Rika decided to do the same, though she found herself listening to their conversation.

"You're really concerned about him now, aren't you?" Consuelo asked Diego. The two were standing over the edge of railing on the side of the restaurant's patio.

"Uh, yeah. I knew my brother could be reckless, but this… this is a whole new level entirely," Diego answered.

The girl frowned. "You're not going to tell your parents, aren't you?"

"Oh no, if I told them, they probably wouldn't let him go deal with bioemergences with me again," he said while looking off in the distance at the mountains that the sun was setting behind. "Besides, they already lost track of one Tamer son."

Consuelo nodded, her expression still somber. "So, what are you going to do about him?"

"Probably keep him on a leash. I was kidding about that, by the way."

"No, I meant Ezekiel, silly," the girl responded with a smile. "You know, I've never met him."

"You'll have to. He's smart, it's just that he got involved with the wrong person. I can't believe that guy claims to be Ken Ichijouji's son. What a crackpot. Well, I guess after the tournament is over, I was thinking of trying to find him. Using the digivice, it shouldn't be too hard. My guess is that he fled to Chile to stay with my grandparents or something. By then I hope to have my partner at the Ultimate level."

"That would be cool. So, what do you think the tournament will be like?" the girl asked with a sense of wonderment.

"I don't know. For all I know, it's going to be a knockoff of Duelist Kingdom from Yu-Gi-Oh and there's going to be a guy there that's an equally fruity knockoff of Pegasus."

The girl laughed. "Ooh, this tournament is simply fabulous…"

Diego burst out laughing. Rika cracked a smile too.

"You know what your concern for your brothers makes me like about you?" Consuelo asked with a smile.

"What?"

"That you care about people."

Diego looked away with embarrassment. "Nah, I don't care that much."

"Yeah you do." The girl decided to change the subject. "So, are you really looking forward to the tournament?" she asked.

"I'm looking forward to getting out of town… it's just… Remember what happened at the last tournament after Kyle beat his friend from Colorado?"

The girl decided to reassure him. "Don't worry, the Academy is long gone. And even if this Diaz guy's a big threat, what are the chances he'll target the tournament?"

"Big. There are going to be a lot of Tamers there from around the world."

"Okay, you got me."

"I'll probably miss you, though."

"Same here." He realized that their faces were ridiculously close, causing both teens to blush. Diego smiled and then walked back inside. Consuelo looked over to see Rika leaning against the wall with a smirk on her face, which surprised the Mexican girl.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"A few minutes. So, you really care about him, don't you?" the red-head asked.

"A lot. I don't know… I think I might like him," Consuelo responded with a smile. "We've been talking every day since I got my partner."

"He seems like a respectable guy. So, he really wants his brother back, huh?" Rika questioned.

"Yeah, he really misses him. It turns out that if he came back, Kyle probably wouldn't press charges against him or anything though he still might have to deal with Echelon going after him."

Rika wasn't too surprised. "It was Kyle's digimon? That's not too surprising. He did somehow get it from inside a digital abomination."

"Yeah, and it turned into Duskmon once before Kyle moved here. Because of that, Kyle didn't go after bioemergences for a few months. In fact, Ezekiel basically got him past his fear of digivolving by accident."

Rika smiled then frowned at the thought of Kyle turning his partner into a freak like Duskmon. At least the guy got over it. The girls headed inside to see that a couple of non-Tamer friends of the group had showed up including some big, ugly guy named Chris and some nerdy black guy named Trevor. Chris had a large nose and had braces along with some curly black hair. He was wearing a green jersey and some blue gym shorts. Trevor had his tight curly black hair cut close to the scalp and was wearing glasses. He was wearing a red shirt and some long blue jeans.

"So, this must be the crazy Japanese girl you were talking about?" Chris asked Kyle.

"Yep, this is her. Just stay on her good side," Kyle warned, prompting Rika to smile. "Oh, and Rika, these are Chris and Trevor. They aren't Tamers, but they're cool."

"How's it going?" the red-head asked.

"Not too shabby," Chris responded. Then the guy thought up a name for her. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the worst thing he could call her. "How about you, wildcat?" he asked, winking. Rika gave him a dirty look and since she didn't want to deal with this idiot, she decided to excuse herself.

"I guess I better get going now. I have to interview Eduardo Diaz's mom."

"Okay, I'll go with you," Consuelo offered, no doubt to make sure that the red-head didn't do anything like she did to Chris to Eduardo's mother.

"Sure, go ahead. I'll probably need the support. By the way, Chris, someone I don't particularly like uses that nickname for me, so you probably don't want to do that again, got it?"

"Uh, sorry…" the brute responded, not knowing exactly what he did to get on the girl's bad side.

"Now you know: don't give the wrong girls nicknames," Kyle warned, a serious expression on his face. "Actually, don't give any girls nicknames unless you know them really well and you know they won't punch your face in."

* * *

"So, this is the house, huh?" Rika said after finally making it neighborhood with Consuelo. She hoped that she could find the answers she was looking for and that Eduardo's mother, a woman named Lorena Del Tonto, wouldn't be as crazy as her son. Still, she had a plan for Renamon and Falcomon as soon as the woman opened the door.

Rika knocked and a woman in her late thirties with long, brown hair answered just after Renamon grabbed Falcomon and teleported into the house. "Hello, I'm sorry to bother you so late. I'm here to ask you a couple of questions about your son," the redhead said, holding out a few pieces of paper and her digivice to show that she wasn't just some random teen from off the street.

The woman was surprised that Rika would come. "What about him? What has happened to him?"

"A couple nights ago, he broke into the apartment of a fellow Tamer in Japan named Antonio Guevara and stole his computer." The woman's eyes widened upon hearing this.

"Come in and sit down," she said, motioning the two girls to sit down on the blue sofa. The woman walked toward the kitchen, but not before asking the two a question. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thanks, I just got back from going out to eat with friends," Rika explained.

"Me too," Consuelo said.

The woman nodded before heading into the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge. She then came back into the room and sat down in a recliner across from the two girls and opened the can before sipping it and speaking. "I don't know what's gotten into my son. Ever since he came into contact with that horrible creature, he's never been the same. It's always been about ambition, about his desires to be the best."

Consuelo decided to ask a question. "How long has your son been a Tamer?"

"About a year and a half. There was another boy with a partner digimon who lived here in North Las Vegas. He had a large, red, lizard-like digimon. I can't remember what it was called."

"The only one I can think of like that is Guilmon, and I know _that's _not it," Rika stated.

The woman continued. "The two happened to go to the same school last year. Towards the beginning of the school year, the number of digimon coming through the barriers started to increase and get stronger. Among them were friendly digimon that the other Tamer gave to his friends. Unfortunately, one by one, they started disappearing. The boy was confused by this and it turned out that Coonmon, my son's partner, had been deleting them in their sleep."

Consuelo looked shocked. "That's… that's just horrible!"

"I know. It turned out my son didn't know that was going on. However, I noticed changes in his behavior. He was starting to get more aggressive. You see, ever since I divorced my second husband, he's been lonely and he's been isolating himself. True, he had his friends, but he never made new ones, even when they offered like the other boy.

"Eventually, the other tamer made a move against my son himself. He made it to a bioemergence and ran into Eduardo there. The two took out the digimon easily. But then, the other boy confronted Eduardo and my son turned on him. His digivice glowed with his desire and caused his partner to reach a higher level. My son easily defeated the other boy, but their match was interrupted by someone else. A group known as the Academy appeared to take both Eduardo and the other Tamer, however my son escaped."

"The Academy… those guys kidnapped Tamers and brainwashed them to serve in their armies," Rika said.

"And the other Tamer was almost brainwashed himself but he resisted by somehow not taking the drugs they offered. It wasn't until months later that he was able to digivolve his partner to a higher form and escape. He was how I learned about what happened to my son. I guess a part of me didn't want to believe it at the time," the woman admitted.

"So, was your second husband his father?" Rika asked.

"No, my first was. We met in college and our marriage only lasted about a year after we graduated. We… we didn't part on very good terms. About a month after we divorced, I found out I was pregnant. I thought I could pass the child off as my new man's, but then, shortly after we divorced, he found out that Eduardo wasn't his and gave up custody."

Rika shook her head. "After Eduardo found about him, did you ever try to have them meet?"

The woman shook her head and leaned forward, saying sternly with a hint of malice coming through her voice: "There's no way I'm letting that man know about my son."

"But he's his father. Was he abusive or something? Is he a criminal?" Consuelo asked.

"No, none of that. He… ugh, I swear he was cheating on me but he always denied it. I even followed him to some house and he walked in. And then there was how he was always studying, even after we graduated from college, and he was always going on business trips. It was as if he was still single. Not to mention he was half-hearted when it came to our love life."

Rika was dismayed as well as a little unnerved by how the woman revealed a bit too much information. "Did you ever try to find out what he's like now?"

"No, not really," the woman spat, obviously detesting the very thought.

"You know, when I was a little girl, my parents divorced. Yet, even though everything turned out horrible, my mom is still willing to let me see him if I wanted to. In fact, I was actually pretty fond of my father. Now, did Eduardo ever want to see him?"

"Yes. But I don't want him around him. If that man knew he had a son, he would want to be in our life again and I can_not _have that!"

Rika breathed deeply, irritated at this woman and her persistent grudge, something that reminded her a bit of what happened to her. It made her sick of her own immaturity while at the same time she hated Lorena's stupidity as well. "The boy has a father out there that would probably love and cherish him if he knew about him. And it's been years!"

"Um, Rika, don't you think you're going a little overboard by telling her how to do things?" Consuelo asked.

"She certainly is," the woman said angrily, standing up. "Now get out of my house."

Rika stood up as well. "Okay, I will. But I just need one thing and one thing only. Since there is a possibility that your son is staying with his father at least part of the time, who is he?"

"I doubt he's staying with the man from what you've told me."

"Who_ is_ he?" Rika asked with venom in her voice.

"His name is Carlos Ortega!"

The red-head walked away as the woman slammed her front door. Rika was glad to finally have a name from the woman. Now she would track the man down.

* * *

While the three women talked inside the living room, Renamon and Falcomon searched Eduardo's room for anything that could help them find out what they needed to about the boy. The fox turned on the light and glanced at everything. The boy's room was practically immaculate with a low-lying bed against the wall to the far left of the door with black bed sheets covering the full-sized mattress, a large wooden dress directly in front of the door and a lightly-colored wooden desk just past that. In addition, there was a window on the far wall from the door with blinds attached.

"Hmm… It seems we have a few places to look," Renamon commented.

"Uh… where should I check?" Falcomon asked with timidity. The yellow fox had an idea.

"Check the closet," she responded, as she inched towards the wooden desk and glanced at the papers on top of it. One of the things she found was a notebook with drawings of Coonmon and his two higher forms along with various statistics. "Interesting… It seems that Ed was a bit of an artist," Renamon commented, while using Rika's camera-phone to take a few pictures. _Though he only devised forms up to the Ultimate level, from what I see._

"Uh… I can't find anything over here," Falcomon replied. "Oh, what's this?" the bird asked, looking up at a binder that was on the top shelf in the closet that bore a thick layer of dust. Apparently nobody had touched it in a while. The owl floated up to grab it, dropping it on accident instead. The small crash caused Renamon to look over at her accomplice.

"Quiet! You may alert the householders to our presence," Renamon warned, causing Falcomon to shrink back in fear.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do so," the owl said in response as the fox walked toward her silently before picking up the blue binder and opening it. She expected it to be full of trading cards or school work, instead she found photographs.

"Hmm…" Renamon examined the pictures inside the binder, taking a few pictures of them as well. Apparently they were of Eduardo's mother from before he was born. Among them, she found pictures of what had to be his father, a skinny man with very short black hair who was constantly smiling. The man seemed to have a rough look, however, along with a somewhat round head. "I believe we may have found something important," the fox told her temporary partner-in-crime. "I also found the original drawings Diaz made and scanned. He was apparently quite the artist," she said. "However, it seems he never got around to creating a Mega form for his partner."

"So, are we done, then?" Falcomon asked.

"Yes we are. This information is enough," she said, before shutting off the lights and grabbing onto Falcomon and teleporting outside with a couple minutes to spare.

* * *

"So, how long have you two been partners?" Renamon inquired of the small owl as they waited on the street corner a ways from Eduardo's house, trying to make conversation.

"Um… about three weeks."

Renamon nodded. "You seem to have developed a close relationship with your partner. I just have one piece of advice: don't be so reclusive. You need to be strong for her. We have no idea what the future will bring, especially with someone like Diaz running around."

Falcomon nodded. "I'll try my best!"

The two digimon waited on the street corner until Rika stormed out angrily with Consuelo close behind. "Find out anything?" the fox asked.

"A ton. It all makes sense now. Or maybe not… Great! That woman is such a horrible…"

"I get the point," Renamon interrupted before her partner could say the next choice word. "What did you find out?"

"We found out Eduardo's whole backstory, down to the identity of his father. So, did you find out anything?"

"I discovered these drawings of Coonmon and his two higher forms as well as a photo album he put together, apparently," Renamon commented, holding the drawings up.

"So, Coonmon _is_ a created digimon just like Guilmon…" Rika said. "It's really starting to make sense now."

"What is?" Consuelo asked.

"Eduardo created Coonmon and ended up becoming a Tamer out of the desire to meet his father. Unfortunately, that digimon took advantage of that desire and corrupted him." Rika scratched her chin. "I'll tell you everything on the way back, Renamon." The red-head then turned to Consuelo. "Thank you for coming with me."

"You're welcome."

"Also, I'm sorry for acting up. There are times when I can't control myself."

Consuelo smiled. "Don't worry, we all have things that do that!"

"Like Diego?" Falcomon asked.

"Oh, quit it!" the girl said before bursting out laughing.

Rika smiled at the scene. "Well, I guess this is good bye."

"Alright, see you later. You'll see Kyle and Diego at the tournament, just don't go easy on Kyle, okay?"

"Oh, believe me, I won't," Rika said before talking to her partner so she could leave. "Renamon, let's go."

"As you wish. Just digivolve me and I'll do the rest."

* * *

A few minutes later, Taomon arrived at Hypnos before dedigivolving back into Renamon. Once that was all over with, Rika entered into Yamaki's office to report what she found as well as drop off a few things Renamon collected. It was still mid-morning in Japan and Yamaki was drinking a cup of coffee while the red-head and her partner entered into the room.

"Did you find out anything good?" the blond-haired Japanese man asked, receiving a nod from Rika.

"Definitely. I also made contact with the Tamers of Vegas while I was there along with Eduardo's mom. It turns out he either vandalized his yearbook himself or had Coonmon do it, so I wasn't able to get a picture from that, however, Renamon managed to sneak into his room while I was having a chat with his mother, Lorena Del Tonto, and snap a few photographs with my phone."

Yamaki took a sip of his coffee. "So I take it you found out some things?"

Rika smiled before frowning again. "I definitely did. Check out the pictures Renamon took."

"A created digimon," Yamaki mumbled to himself as he examined Eduardo's pictures of Coonmon after connecting them to his computer and uploading them. "Fascinating…" The blond man looked over the drawings and photographs after using some software to make up for the slight lack of resolution.

"So, I guess this is it?" Rika asked.

"Yes, though, I should warn you: next time you probably shouldn't have Renamon sneak into a room to get info like this when you're in a foreign country. If Echelon found out, it wouldn't be pretty," Yamaki warned the girl.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," she said with a smile as she left the room.

Yamaki stood there for a few minutes before turning on his computer to examine the e-mails he got from the Tamer in America that was on the Eduardo Diaz case. He had waited until Rika made it back to look at the information and now he found a few things out that startled him, things that would be classified until Eduardo was captured.

He just hoped it was the right thing to do.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Day Before

A/N: The bands mentioned: Nightwish, which a friend of mine had me listen to one time was described by him as a Finnish Goth metal band with opera vocals (Though, they've changed lead singers since then, so it could be a little different. I'll admit that I've only heard a couple of their songs). Maná is a Mexican rock band from Guadalajara, Jalisco that's apparently pretty popular down there (another friend had me listen to some of it. From what I've checked out on the internet, they're basically Latin America's answer to U2, popularity-wise). I'll also admit that I haven't listened to much of their music either. And then there's Coldplay, which some like and some don't. I happen to be one who likes it, just don't flame me for it.

Del Tonto is an actual last name, though, it's rare (My guess, it's probably a misspelled version of an actual Spanish last name… I hope. The guy who recovered the files off my old computer's hard drive had that last name. Nice guy, too). Yeah, you'll probably see Ed doing a little drawing here and there.


	6. Countdown

Chapter 6: Countdown

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

* * *

**A Week before the Tournament (Three days after Rika's trip to Vegas)**

The rain came down in sheets, reminding the rogue Tamer of the torrential rains that Vegas would get on rare occasions. They called to mind a specific event, a flood in the year 2000. Still, he remembered a number of other times that happened in that desert that was so far away from where he was, though not to such an extent.

However, Eduardo wasn't here to reminisce. He had already stopped briefly in Japan to drop off Antonio's computer, something he wouldn't let anyone else know about and something he was glad to have gotten done, despite Coonmon's protests. He had his reasons, but they were personal, and his partner already chided him for them. Still, it could be worse…

No, he was here to track down another recruit for his team. She was in these apartment buildings if her digivice signal was any indication. As he tracked down the proper apartment in this run-down district, he looked up some information on her so he could be prepared. Hopefully she wouldn't be like Ezekiel.

The overweight teen knocked at the second story apartment where the girl was. He saw someone open the blinds to look out the window and then open the door. The girl looked surprised to see him.

"Hello, you must be Francesca Way. I've heard about your exploits." He checked his digivice. "Let's see: killing a number of partner digimon in your hometown of Houston, Texas, humiliating their Tamers… looks like your kill count is higher than mine."

The girl smiled. "So, are you here to bring me back to America?" she asked in a southern accent. Apparently she was confusing Eduardo with someone else if the look on her face was something to go by.

"No, I just want you to join my team. The name's Eduardo, by the way. This…" Coonmon crawled up from his backpack. "… Is my partner, Coonmon."

The girl seemed surprised again. "So, what is your team up to, honey?" she inquired. "My partner, BlackGatomon, and I would love to hear your story. Come on in."

_"So, what do you think, Coonmon?" _Eduardo asked his partner telepathically, liking the thought of working with a cute girl for once.

_ "My telepathic powers don't seem able to pierce her mind as easily, so I'd keep an eye on her," _Coonmon remarked as the two entered into the apartment.

* * *

Antonio woke up that morning satisfied with sleep. He then got up out of bed, put on some shorts, and walked out to make himself some coffee to heat up while he was in the shower. The man walked out of his room and the first thing he noticed after spotting his blue partner lounging on the couch was something on the table: his laptop. He ran over to it as quickly as he could and examined the device before turning it on. It was his alright.

The large man couldn't control himself. "It's back! I can't believe it, that brat actually returned my computer!" he exclaimed as loudly as he possibly could.

"Uh, what's back?" DemiVeemon asked groggily, looking all sleepy-eyed.

Antonio pointed at his computer exitedly. "Apparently that kid does have a conscience after all. He returned my computer."

The blue dragon perked up. "He returned it? That's great!"

Ezekiel groggily woke up, wondering what all the commotion was about and walked into the living room to spot his uncle, sitting at the far side of the table and drinking his coffee. But the surprising part was that the shirtless man was on his computer.

"Where did that come from?" the black-haired American asked in confusion.

"Apparently that Diaz brat dropped by in the middle of the night and left it here. From the looks of it, he didn't make any real changes. He probably just copied whatever files he wanted and decided he didn't need it."

Ezekiel was confused. "That… that doesn't make sense. Why would he, of all people, want to return your computer to you?"

Antonio shrugged and leaned back. "I have no idea. However, I have no complaints. Hopefully this means we can reason with him. By the way, there's something we need to talk about."

"And that is?" Ezekiel asked, pulling up a chair across from his uncle.

The large, heavy man took a deep breath. "It's about responsibility. I've been thinking, recently, and you're going the wrong way about clearing your name."

The black-haired teen looked at his uncle in sheer disbelief. "But you let me stay here despite…"

"Yes, I did. But then I got wind of Fernando's side of the story of what happened when you confronted that other Tamer in Vegas that caused everything to fall apart. Your brother wants you back, by the way, but at the same time he thinks you went overboard."

Ezekiel clenched his fists. He could see this coming. "I… I have to admit something."

"And that is?" Antonio asked cautiously as he clicked on the internet to go check his e-mail.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to go back to Vegas and face my family again." The Chilean's eyes widened.

"You feel guilty about what happened," Antonio suggested, sitting back and glancing at his nephew. This was when his mentorship role was going to be most needed.

"Especially Fernando and his partner. I immediately ordered Dobermon to go delete the digimon even though its intentions were noble simply because it was a Devimon." Ezekiel was starting to shake.

"I see. There's a simple way of solving this problem," Antonio advised, taking a sip of his coffee. "Turn yourself in to the authorities. Chances are, since they already got the guy that was manipulating you…"

"He didn't manipulate me!" Ezekiel practically shouted, before calming down once he realized what he did. He couldn't let himself be disrespectful to his uncle.

"The manipulated usually don't know that they are being manipulated. Still, by turning yourself in, you'll show maturity that even people my age don't show. Since they already have this Osamu Ichijouji figure, assuming that's his real name, they already know a large amount of the story. After all, you figured into his plans, so you were most likely just a chess piece to him."

The black-haired boy rolled his eyes. "What were his plans, anyway?"

"Echelon hasn't gotten much out of him other than a few dozen algorithms that he writes up on his spare time when a normal kid would have doodled," Antonio responded, jealous that such a kid could program so well. "The kid's a bit off, apparently, and hardly interacts with the other prisoners at the Cañon City Prison for Tamers."

"Ironic, since he ran around wearing a mask with the crest of Friendship on the front," Ezekiel commented under his breath. "So, you want me to turn myself in? This is going to be harder than anything else in life."

"When you go to the doctor and get a shot, it hurts at first but you're better in the long run. It's the same with this. Just turn yourself in and accept your responsibility."

The boy took a deep breath, unsure of whether he would do it or not. Then he thought about a key element in decision making: doing the right thing.

The two worked in silence until Ezekiel finished eating breakfast. The teen walked over to the sink, washed out his bowl and then put it in the dishwasher. That was the start of a long day.

* * *

The plan was a simple one, go into the school weights room and work out, then get out. Since it was just before finals, the room was empty. Unfortunately for Kazu, Kenta and Takato, someone was already there, working out like a dog. Ezekiel was so busy performing various exercises with the free weights in the room that he didn't even notice the others walk in until a certain visor-wearing boy called out to him.

"Hey! Ezekiel, what's going on?" Kazu greeted, catching the attention of the black-haired boy, who responded with a smile.

"Oh, how's it going?" he turned and asked the group with a little bit of surprise, wiping the sweat from his brow and breathing intensely. He didn't have very big muscles from what everyone else could see.

"Not too bad. Just here to lift some weights," Takato commented, giving the black-haired teen a smile. "Right now's the time to do it."

"Yes, I guess it is. I just need to work out some problems I guess," the boy commented. "It turns out that Eduardo Diaz was nice enough to return my uncle's computer, by the way."

Everyone in the room was extremely surprised. "He what?" Kenta asked in shock. "Why?"

The American boy shrugged. "Believe me, if I knew what was going in that psycho's mind, I would have figured out a way to defeat him the night I encountered him in Sonora. He probably has some sick amusement seeing people suffer."

"There has to be a reason…" Kazu commented, before turning to the others. "Can any of you guys think of anything?" All he got was a pair of shaking heads from the other Tamers.

It was about then that Henry showed up with Terriermon. "Oh, hey, what's going on?" Henry asked upon seeing the group congregated in the weight room.

"My uncle got his computer back," Ezekiel told him.

"So your uncle's reunited with his one true love, his computer!" Terriermon exclaimed.  
"Terriermon…" Henry said, glaring at his partner.

"What, it's not my fault that he can't get laid," the floppy-eared digimon replied.

"My uncle's lack of a love life is none of your business," Ezekiel told the digimon point blank, glaring at him and fighting every urge to go and choke the dog-rabbit with his bare hands.

"Watch, I bet the guy's never had a girlfriend," Kazu joked, smiling.

"Come on, you've never had one either," Kenta responded, giving his friend a look.

"Still, you've got to admit, Ezekiel's uncle's not going to attract a girl any time soon," Terriermon decided to add to his obnoxious comment from earlier.

"Terriermon, do you want me to throw you outside?" Henry asked.

"Oh, come on. Watch, he doesn't even have much of a package, if you know what I mean."  
"Okay, you're going outside!" Henry said, taking his partner out of the weight room.

"Oh, won't you just momentai?" the rabbit asked as his tamer drug him out of the weight room.

"I'm glad that's out of the way," Ezekiel remarked, rolling his eyes at the small dog-rabbit and his insipid remarks.

"One day that rabbit's going to get shot," Kazu joked. "I guess that means we're not taking him to America any time soon!"  
"Um, you seem to be misunderstood. Not all of us own guns," Ezekiel corrected the visor-wearing boy curly.

"Sorry, my bad!" he said with a smile, patting Ezekiel on the back, annoying the American with a little bit of physical contact, before grabbing some of the free weights. Ezekiel just shuddered.

* * *

"So, are you ready for the final, Miki?" Ayaka asked her dark-haired friend cheerfully while sitting on the floor of her bedroom with the other girl.

"Are you kidding me? I'm completely dreading the whole thing!" the girl responded ever-dramatically, dropping onto her back. "I'm probably going to need a tutor to pass the semester."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. The two had met up at Ayaka's house for a quick study session and were expecting Jeri and even Rika, despite the red-head's slightly different curriculum due to going to a private school.

"Maybe you should ask Rika for help with that?" Ayaka suggested. "From what I hear she gets really good grades."

Miki rolled her eyes as she sat up. "Okay, maybe I'll accept her as my team leader, but there's no way I'll have her tutor me. She's way too tough and she'll probably eat me alive."

"She's not that bad. Besides, we can learn a lot from a little criticism," the pig-tailed blonde responded. It was about then that Jeri walked into the room. The two were friends of the brunette for years, ever since before the girl became a Tamer.

"Hey, Miki and Ayaka. What's up?" Jeri greeted.

Ayaka shrugged. "Not much. I'm trying to get Miki to ask for help from Rika for the final. Speaking of Rika, where is she?"

That very moment, the red-head walked into the room and shut the door behind her, holding a binder and her backpack. "Sorry, guys, I kind of lost track of time. I got a bit sidetracked with guitar practice."

"Oh, it's okay," Ayaka assured her. "Miki and I were just discussing the final coming up."

"I'm so going to fail!" Miki panicked with her hands in her hair. Her drama was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hello, I have some freshly baked cookies for you!" Ayaka's older sister called into the room.

"Okay, come in!" the blonde called and her sister walked into the room with a platter full of chocolate-chip cookies for them to eat. The older girl was blonde like Ayaka, but was definitely closer to college age and didn't wear her hair in pigtails. It turned out that she was going to graduate that year from high school. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Enjoy your time studying," the older blonde replied before exiting the room.

"Wow, these cookies are so good," Rika complemented her blonde friend, eating one.

"Yeah, they're my sister's recipe. Aren't you going to take one, Miki?" the blonde asked her friend.

"Uh… I would but… I'm kind of on a diet right now," the dark-haired girl responded, crossing her arms.

"Come on, one can't hurt," Jeri said in response in between bites of hers. Miki was starting to get really tempted by the pastries and her eyes couldn't come off of them.

"Then again, it doesn't matter too much if you don't have one," Rika admitted. "So, are we going to actually study or what?"

"Yeah, let's get our math books out and go over the information," Jeri told the group before they did so.

* * *

**Two days before the tournament**

Ryouma was annoyed. The silver-haired Tamer had just got off the phone with his friend Ren, who turned out to be working as security at the tournament. Now Ryouma had to find someone else to go with.

He sat on his bed, trying to figure out who. Unfortunately, Airu and the new recruit, Yuu were both staying behind to protect Koto from any digimon outbreaks that could happen during the tournament. Other than that, he really didn't have any friends due to not being allowed to have anyone over. He took a deep breath and thought about it for a few seconds, before an idea hit him.

"Psychemon?" he called for his partner, standing up. The pelt-wearing reptile came into the room.

"What is it, Ryouma?" the digimon asked curiously as Ryouma led him back out of the room.

"We're going to go on a little walk," the silver-haired boy explained as the two of them walked downstairs and out of the house.

"But your parents don't want you to go out of the house," Psychemon objected.

"I know that. But they're out of town and this is important," Ryouma said as the two walked through the streets of Koto. It took a while for the reptile to figure out where they were going, but when he found out, he gasped in surprise, causing his partner to look at him.

"What is it, Psychemon?" the silver-haired teen asked in curiosity.

"Are we going to Tagiru's house?" Psychemon inquired, eliciting a nod from Ryouma.

"He's the only one I can think of to bring on this trip," the silver-haired boy explained. "Also, I want to know how he's doing since… you know."

Psychemon nodded in understanding.

Ryouma nodded as they neared the house. He knocked on the door, and a blond-haired teen wearing a blue shirt with a series of yellow stars on it answered. As soon as Tagiru saw his face, Ryouma felt a bit of annoyance and Tagiru's smile became wider than anything. "Ryouma! What's up?!"  
"Nothing in particular. I'm just here to give you an offer," Ryouma explained.

"Yeah? What's going on, man? Did anything happen that made you guys need me?" the blond asked.

"Oh, no, this is merely a social event. I'm going to the World Tournament as one of Japan's representatives," the silver-haired teen said.

"Awesome!" Tagiru exclaimed, smiling to the point of it being infectious. "So, what does that have to do with me? Need me to come along or something?"

_He's still the same… _Ryouma thought. "Yes, actually. Rika was going to bring one of her friends and so I decided to bring one of mine."

"You really think of me as a friend?" Tagiru asked, looking far too happy for his own good.

"Well, more of an acquaintance, but still, I think it would be fun to have you along."

Tagiru broke out into a little victory dance. "Yatta!" he shouted. "This is going to be great! When are we going to leave? Does it cost anything? Can I bring Pagumon?"

"We're leaving Friday. All expenses are paid and yes you can bring…" Then Ryouma realized what his blonde friend asked. "What?" he inquired, disbelieving.

"This guy!" Tagiru said, holding out the small, grey digimon with two hand-like ears. The digimon didn't look all that happy. In fact, he was glaring at Ryouma kind of angrily.

"Sure, you can bring him," Ryouma told him.

"Oh, yeah! This is going to be great!" Then Tagiru wondered something. "Where is the tournament, anyway?"

"Somewhere in the Caribbean," the silver-haired Tamer answered.

"Awesome!" Ryouma's palm met his face. He wondered what possessed him into getting into this mess.

* * *

"I can't believe they beat us," Yamaki commented angrily as the group looked over the latest reports. The digivice application designed to help Tamers reach the Mega stage in the real world was just leaked.

"It's got to be a trick. There's no way it's fully operational," Mizuno said as the group looked at the screens in fright. "Still, how could such a large number actually fall for this?"

"And looking at the source code… It's all in German. Does anybody know that language, cause I sure don't," Antonio added, scratching his head at the sight of the code on the screen.

"I took the language in college, but it's been so long that I hardly even remember it," Mizuno replied, frowning at the sight of the code. "That is pretty impenetrable, isn't it? About the only pieces of code in English are the if-statements."

Antonio chuckled. "That and the class headers and whatever else isn't a variable name. And here I thought that Python was easy."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have used an easy language for the SDK," Yamaki suggested, flicking his lighter in irritation. "Maybe something like Lisp or Scheme would be better suited."

"Actually, how about they go all the way and force them to program it in Machine Code?" Mizuno responded, jokingly.

"Still, this wasn't the intent. We had no idea anyone else but me would use the extended SDK," Antonio remarked. His eyes narrowed. "How close to the testing phase is the current form of the program?"

"Between you and me, it should be just about done," Mizuno replied, scratching his beard. "Still, we need a suitable Tamer."

"Kazu would probably be the best choice," Yamaki said. "He had already demonstrated that he is capable of reaching that form in the Digital World by defeating TysiachaGlazkovmon using HiAndromon."

"Okay, then it's Kazu. I guess I should try to translate this thing in the meantime using a dictionary so that I can see how whoever made this did it," Antonio said, sitting down and scratching his head. It was a shame that a German-English or German-Japanese interpreter wasn't an option since this was top-secret information. "Word Reference should work just fine for that."

"Who do you think did this?" Yamaki asked Mizuno sternly and with a serious frown.

"Probably a former Academy student. From what I've read about the six-month curriculum that they were forced to undergo before it was disbanded, it includes learning how to program in a number of languages," Mizuno suggested.

"Nah, this is too advanced for a six-month crash course. At the very least, this person has probably programmed for years," Antonio objected while translating the various file names. He groaned. This was going to take a while.

"Duly noted," Yamaki replied just as Reilly walked up to him urgently with a report. "What is it?"

"Some classified documents that were on Guevara's computer were leaked. Namely the scripts for the third season."

"What?" the blond man asked in anger and disbelief.

"Wait, those were classified?" The man asked in surprise. He had the clearance to read them, though, so he didn't think much of it.

"Yes, they were. If you had read them, then you'd know why," Yamaki responded.

"I read the timeline leading up to it and that was enough, with the mentions of someone with the same name as one of my nephews. I thought the tamers had access to that stuff."

"On the contrary, they don't. Shortly after Vikaralamon attacked, Hypnos raided Bandai and seized the documents. The person who was my temporary replacement read them over and made them classified due to their contents. Since then, it has become more apparent why."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Mizuno told the bespectacled man.

"The scripts have predicted a number of events, including the D-Reaper invasion and TysiachaGlazkovmon's attempted extermination of remaining digimon, including the Tamers'. And then there was Yahiko Matsuki, though, he obviously doesn't exist yet," Yamaki said. "However, his partner is a BlackGuilmon, which appeared in the concept art from the beginning, before Takato drew up Guilmon himself."

Antonio was confused. "That doesn't even make sense. They had to have known about it somehow. And I thought this was an Adventure sequel."

"And how could they have known about it shy of time travel?" Mizuno inquired.

"We have already interviewed the writing staff for the third season. None of them have any answers," Yamaki said dryly.

The group pondered over this information. Things were just getting more confusing as time went on.

* * *

"Okay, now, what you have to do is test this out once I'm done here," Antonio told Kazu as he loaded his biomerging program to his digivice along with enough data for the transfer. They were on top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, getting ready for the test and others, such as Yamaki, Mizuno and most of the Tamers were there as well.

"Alright. So, you ready, Guardromon?" the brown-haired boy asked his rust-colored partner with a cocky smile.

"I couldn't possibly be more ready, Kazu!" the robot exclaimed enthusiastically.

"So, what if this doesn't work?" Kazu asked.

"Then we'll move on to the German program."

"The German program?" Kazu inquired.

"It's the nickname I gave to the other biomerge program," Antonio said with a smile. "It got leaked to the internet just yesterday." The man disconnected the digivice as soon as it was done. "Here you go."

Kazu felt a little nervous as he was about to perform the biomerge. Still, he suppressed it so that he could do it with a clear mind. Before biomerging, he looked over at the other Tamers who were on the sidelines. He saw Takato watching intently, Rika looking bored and Kenta observing nervously. _You can do it, man!_ He took a deep breath and said the words. "Biomerge Activate!"

**BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION_**

"Guardromon biomerge to… HiAndromon!" The large, black-armored version of Guardromon's ultimate form stood proud in front of the others. Unfortunately, the form could only be maintained for a few seconds before it got unstable. Kazu and Guardromon fell to the ground, the boy breathing hard as he got up.

"Oh, man, that was not what I was expecting," the brown-haired boy said.

"Oh, great, it's glitchy. I wonder how effective the German program is…" Kazu handed Antonio his digivice and the man examined the screen for the data inside of him. "It seems that you lost data while in a biomerged state. Strange…"

"So, can I try out the German program now?" Kazu asked, eliciting a nod from Antonio. The brown-haired boy looked over at all his friends who were there for the demonstration. He couldn't let them down. The large Chilean connected the digivice to his laptop, uninstalled his own program and then installed the German one. He wondered who exactly created it, though he knew that the programmer was most likely an ally of Eduardo's. Still, to set up such a program in a week…

"All ready," Antonio confirmed, handing the digivice back to Kazu while smiling a toothy smile. The brown-haired boy wanted it to succeed so badly and he hoped it did, even though he thought that Antonio looked a bit too much like a mad scientist.

"Biomerge activate!" he exclaimed, causing a sphere to come around him and his partner.

**BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION_**

"Guardromon biomerge to… HiAndromon!"

The large android stood there for a few seconds, waiting for the form to destabilize. It didn't happen. "Alright! I did it!" Kazu exclaimed from inside his partner's Mega form.

"Wow, I didn't think he'd be able to do it after two years in the real world," Rika commented in surprise that such a dunderhead could manage such a feat.

"Then again, a large part of the biomerge is the Tamer's relationship with his or her partner," Mizuno stated. "Since Kazu has been a Tamer for close to three years, he's had the chance to develop that relationship to such a high level."

Rika nodded. Then she wondered about how she couldn't biomerge with her partner in the battle against Boltmon.

"Alright, the test is over. You can de-digivolve now," Antonio told Kazu.

"Uh… how do I do that?" HiAndromon asked.

"Strange… I guess that the German program isn't totally glitch-free after all."

"Don't tell me…" Kazu started to panic inside his partner. "I'm not stuck in this, am I?!"

Antonio tried hard not to chuckle as he smiled. Glitches were a part of life it seemed. "For now. Don't worry, kid, I'll be able to upload a de-digivolution program into you from right here. Digivice to digivice communication is so handy. It'll just take a few minutes."

The black android fell backwards onto the grass and groaned in agony. He was hoping for something better surrounding his achieving the Mega stage in the real world.

"Well, I guess that's over with. At least now we have Kazu as a Mega," Takato mentioned

* * *

While walking home with Takato from the demonstration, Guilmon noticed someone standing on the edge of a bridge, enjoying the warm, summer air. "Hey, Takato, look! It's Jeri!" the red dinosaur exclaimed, pointing out the brunette.

"Oh, what's she doing here?" Takato asked with a hint of surprise in his voice. He then walked over to the girl, wanting to say hi. The two of them hadn't had much interaction lately, so this was a good chance for him to catch up a little bit. "Hey, Jeri!" he greeted with a wave, catching the attention of the brunette girl who looked at him and smiled.

"Takato!" she exclaimed. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, just walking home from a demonstration at Hypnos. You?"

Jeri smiled. "I'm just enjoying the afternoon. Kentaro's a bit busy today, so I can't go and visit him."

Takato was a bit taken aback. "So, his name is Kentaro…"

The brunette nodded.

"What's he doing today that you can't hang out with him?" Takato inquired, hoping he wasn't getting too personal.

"He couldn't say much, just that it had something to do with the Tournament that was coming up. He told me that he was going to do some security work," Jeri commented, disappointed.

"He's a Tamer?" the brown-haired boy asked in surprise, getting a nod in response from Jeri.

"Yup! His partner usually stays in his Ultimate form, Baalmon," the girl responded with a little bit of excitement in her voice.  
"Baalmon? I don't know if I've even heard of that digimon," Takato said, searching his mind for any info on such a digimon and coming back with nothing.

"It's a pretty rare digimon," Jeri said. "He told me a lot about his adventures."

"So, what's his connection to the Season 3 character?" Takato asked jokingly, not expecting to get a serious response.

"He _is_ the season 3 character, or at least he inspired him. Baalmon's an alternate digivolution for Impmon, or so he said. I'm sorry, there's a lot I can't really say about him," Jeri said in a bit of a panic, leaving Takato with a bit of a concerned look. "I probably said too much about him as it is."

"Jeri, I just want to know who he is," Takato said calmly. He had no idea why Jeri was so intent on keeping her significant other from the rest.

"He's… he's pretty timid and… well, he has his reasons," Jeri said with difficulty. "You're going to the tournament for security, right?"

Takato nodded. "Is he going too?" he asked.

"Yes, he is. The TV show had his design right, but he's now a bit more muscular than he used to be. Like I say, he's shy and might have a hard time being around you, but don't worry. He's a really nice guy," she tried to tell him.

Takato still didn't know what to think of him. He had a hard time believing the boy was who he said he was.

"Well, I better get going, my parents are going to want some help at the tavern," Jeri said suddenly. "Elecmon!"

"I'm coming, Jeri!" the red digimon said, catching up with his partner.

"Well, I'll see you around, Jeri," Takato said, sending her off.

"Okay, Takato. I hope to see you too. Like I said, say hi to Kentaro for me," she said while smiling and picking up her partner.

The goggle-head didn't know what to think of her friend. It all seemed too good to be true. As Jeri left, Takato wondered what he was going to say when he met the guy.

"What is it, Takato?" Guilmon asked his partner, who was standing there, thinking about what was coming, his face serious.

"It's Jeri's boyfriend. I don't know who he really is and I'm afraid for her, boy," Takato said calmly. "We need to meet him."

"Then let's go find him!" the red dinosaur exclaimed, excited at the prospect of meeting someone new. Takato just smiled at his partner before heading towards home.

* * *

The bespectacled woman felt nervous as she knocked on the door to her boss's office. She didn't know what to expect from the executive as he answered the door, the two human figures and two tall digimon glancing from inside as the black-haired man answered.

"What is it?" he asked, hurriedly. He didn't seem too happy about the interruption of the meeting about the upcoming tournament. "It better be important."

"Um… It is. Mr. Guevara is here to see you," she said. A slight look of confusion crossed Koji's face.

"Which one? There are five that we know about that are Tamers, not counting…" the man responded before getting interrupted by his secretary.

"Ezekiel, the one you wanted to help you for the tournament," the woman said, thinking it was obvious.

"Ezekiel… Okay," Koji said as he walked towards the lobby where Ezekiel and Dobermon were sitting. The black-haired boy looked like he was calculating his every move. In actuality, Ezekiel was beyond nervous. This look he was giving was just his way of dealing with his nervousness, especially since he didn't like to show it.

He knew what he was going to say, and Koji Minamoto, the Legendary Warrior of Light, wasn't going to like it.

"What is it, Guevara?" the man asked, still standing a ways from Ezekiel.

Ezekiel processed his thoughts, prepared himself for the consequences. "I've given it much thought, lately, Mr. Minamoto. There are a number of things that I have done recently that weren't entirely ethical, and that includes using you to potentially erase the existence of my crimes." Then Ezekiel got straight to the point. "I have decided that I am going to take responsibility for my actions by turning myself in as soon as we reach American soil tomorrow."

"In other words, you're not going to act as security for the tournament," the man replied, a hint of anger crossing his voice.

"You are correct."

The man took a deep breath. "The reason I even let you on our team was because I felt that the actions of my colleague, Osamu Ichijouji, were what led you to the point where you are now and that I was responsible for his actions since I am the adult that works around him. That is also why I was willing to erase all info of your dealings with him as well as your criminal record."

"I see myself as the one to blame for going along with his plans in the first place," Ezekiel responded. "If I wouldn't have gone with…"

"Except that he made the offer in the first place."

"And I acted on it," Ezekiel said. He was starting to get irritated that Koji wouldn't side against him. "If I haven't done that, then I wouldn't have become a fugitive. I have decided to turn myself in and you are going to take me back to the states so that I can do that."

Koji nodded before speaking tersely. "Of course. Still, Osamu was the more experienced Tamer and he shoulders more blame. Now, I have a meeting to attend to."

"Go ahead. I was just letting you know of my plans," Ezekiel said, before the two parted ways.

* * *

Next Chapter: Day of Departure

A/N: I took so long to release this chapter partially because of laziness and partially because of the scene with Jeri in it. Heck, it still doesn't sit completely right with me.

Those are real programming languages I mentioned. Python is said to be a good language for beginners, though the syntax differs slightly from major programming languages such as C# or Java (Ruby, as used in RPG Maker, is closely related to Python. The main differences tend to be the lack of curly braces and the stress on indenting). Lisp and Scheme are dialects of the same language. It's said to have syntax that is quite different from most others. Then there's Machine Code which is simply the 0s and 1s.

Yeah, so there are Xros Wars Hunters characters in here. These are purely AU versions of them, though I intend to keep most of their personalities intact (though, Tagiru's _not _going to remain a static character).


	7. Day of Departure

Chapter 7: Day of Departure

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, just my original characters.

Also, great thanks to the poor guy who did the beta of this chapter, Crazyeight.

###

He really didn't want to wake up that day. No, he would have been more than content lying in bed, or rather under the bed, hidden from anyone who entered the room. How a fifteen-year-old of his size could remain underneath that bed was a mystery, even to the girl that entered into his room.

"Kentaro, I know you're under there!" the girl called out, playfully. She had long, flowing black hair and brown eyes along with light skin and was wearing a large amount of make-up. She was wearing a black, leather jacket over a white shirt and had on a pair of tight blue jeans.

"Go away!" the boy called out.

"Why are you doing this?" the girl asked, rolling her eyes and leaning against the doorpost. She really didn't understand the inner workings of her teammate's mind, even after all these years.

"Tanya, didn't you see the list of people that are going to help out with security? Some of Jeri's friends are on there."

Now the girl understood. This was just a typical episode of Kentaro's nervousness getting the better of him. The girl took a deep breath and then called out to her partner. "Renamon, Kentaro's under the bed!"

The silver-furred vulpine digimon understood what her partner of three-and-a-half years meant, so she teleported under the bed, grabbed a hold of the muscular, blond, Japanese boy, and teleported him out into the open of his bedroom. The Renamon looked much like her yellow counterpart, except for the silver fur, the red eyes and the fact that her orange gloves lacked the taijitu that Rika's partner had.

Kentaro, on the other hand, was in his grey boxers, much to Tanya's amusement. She was used to seeing the large teen in his underwear, partially from their adventures in the digital world back in the day and partially from living with him in the time since they arrived in the past three years earlier. She didn't even bat an eye.

"So, are you going to get ready or do you want me to dress you myself?" the girl asked wryly while smirking, knowing she wouldn't have to do such a thing.

"Uh, I'll get ready. Still, these are Jeri's friends. I don't know what they'll think of me. Heck, they probably won't even believe that I'm the real Kentaro Takaishi."

The girl sighed as the boy grabbed a change of clothes before walking past her towards the bathroom in their apartment. "You know, while traveling, I'm always paranoid that I'm going to run into the younger version of my father, so I kind of understand" The girl said as the blond boy shut the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" he asked, calling from inside.

"My fears were justified, since my father's now a Tamer, however, I never once came across him. Come to think of it, I don't even know what he looks like at this age. I don't think I've ever seen any pictures. Instead, the last time I went to where my father lives, I ran into my uncle."

The boy started the shower. For the next fifteen minutes, there would be no talking to him, so Tanya simply ate breakfast. Then he walked out wearing a red shirt and some black slacks and he had also spiked his hair a little bit. He had an expression on his face that continued to say how nervous he looked.

"Now, do you feel better?" Tanya asked, knowing the answer would be 'no'.

"Of course not. We're going on a Caribbean vacation with the Tamers of Japan, I'm going to have to meet some of Jeri's friends and then there's the whole thing about protecting the Dimension Key and keeping it from being turned," Kentaro said while scratching an itch on his neck.

"Um, don't you remember all the times you and Baalmon saved my butt back when we actually had fun?" Tanya asked, raising her thin eyebrows, a hint of a smile coming across her face.

Kentaro was a little angered by those words. "Fun? You call running for your life from an evil government bent on genocide against digimon kind, fighting hordes of artificial digimon ranging from Vemmon to Gizumon BT and then having to face against a digimon that was on the verge of merging with the entire digital world and losing fun?"

"Well, it was certainly more interesting than this so-called existence we have," Tanya commented before sighing and turning away toward the door.

"Tanya, I just want normalcy. You may want to save the world day-in and day-out, but that's not cool." Kentaro followed the girl. "By the way, where's Baalmon?" he asked just as the ninja-like digimon appeared out of nothing in the hallway. "Oh, hey!"

"Kentaro, Tanya, Renamon, Koji wants you in the plane within the next fifteen minutes," the tall, hunched-over Ultimate informed them.

The black-haired girl sighed. "Okay, Renamon?"

"Yes?" the silver-furred fox asked.

"Will you be kind enough to take me to the plane?" Tanya asked, not wanting to walk and use the subway all that distance.

"Why certainly," the fox responded almost cheerfully before grabbing onto her partner and disappearing.

"Okay, Baalmon, you're going to do the same thing for me, right?" Kentaro asked.

"Sure, I might as well." The assassin said, not really wanting to due to the extra muscle mass that Kentaro had accumulated since arriving in the past. Still, he obliged, and the blond found himself in the fancy passenger section of Koji Minamoto's private jet. In fact, the man was standing right there.

"Ah, you came. Here I was afraid I'd have to drag you out of bed or something," the man commented wryly.

"Nah, Tawny already did that."

"Ugh, I hate it when you call me that!" the girl exclaimed angrily from her chair, eliciting a laugh from the large blond.

"Hey, you did your job," the blond said with a smile.

"Kenny here was hiding under the bed," Tanya explained. She didn't mention Jeri or her friends, since that was something that Koji didn't know about and would really frown upon since he doesn't want to muck up the timeline too much, or so he claimed.

"I see you're a bit nervous about the tournament. Don't be. If there's one thing I've learned from working with the likes of Takuya Kanbara, it's that you should just go with the flow sometimes," the black-haired man told Kentaro while standing uncomfortably right in front of him.

"Uh, okay. Tanya does that all the time," the blond commented uneasily, scratching the back of his head.

"That's because she has the goggles," the man said with a smile.

###

Rika woke up, ready for the day. She lifted her head off the futon she was lying down on and got up. It was going to be a long plane ride, but at least she would be on a vacation of sorts instead of on another mission. The girl was ready for whatever came her way that day and her bags were all packed and in the corner. She had plans to travel with Ayaka, leaving the rest of her team, Miki as well as Ai and Mako, in the care of Jeri.

She hoped that the brunette was ready.

Getting up, she took a quick shower and then changed into her clothes consisting of a shirt with a heart on it and a pair of jeans. She quickly placed both her Taming deck and her tournament deck on her belts.

Walking into the living room, she spotted her mom and grandma, who were both ready to drive her to the airport. "Ah, my little girl is growing up so fast," Rumiko said, much to Rika's embarrassment.

"It's just a tournament. Besides, I have Renamon in case something goes wrong," she said, knowing that things probably would.

"I know," the woman said. "It's just…"

"Now, dear, don't smother her," Seiko said, putting her hand on Rumiko's shoulder. "It's just a little vacation with a few games of cards on the side. It's not like something bad will happen."

Rika smiled. Her grandmother had always been pretty reasonable.

"Let's go. Remember, we have to pick up Ayaka on the way there."

The two women nodded as they went and grabbed the girl's bags along with Renamon. The yellow fox just sat in the back seat while they rode to pick up Ayaka. It turned out that the blonde was waiting in front of her house for Rika to pick her up. The red-head got out of the car to put the fellow Tamer's luggage in the trunk. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ayaka was bringing twice as much stuff.

"So, are you ready to kick some butt at the tournament?" the blonde cheered as she got in the car.

"You bet," Rika responded. Renamon continued sitting in the middle between the two girls while Ayaka held Syakomon in her arms.

"Do you think it'll be hard?" the mollusk asked Rika, curiously.

"These _are _some of the best players in the world. It definitely won't be a cakewalk like the Shinjuku tournament was," Rika comment.

"It's too bad I dropped out in the first round. For some reason, Miki made it all the way to semi-finals," Ayaka said.

"Yeah, think of all the prize money," Syakomon commented.

"What is the prize for winning the World Tournament?" Renamon asked out of curiosity. Rika just shrugged.

"I'm just in it for the fun," the red-head said with a smile.

After a few minutes of talking, the group made it to the airport, where they spotted Ryouma and an unfamiliar boy with a Pagumon.

Well, unfamiliar to everyone except Rika, who rolled her eyes at the sight of Tagiru Arashi. _Then again, maybe he's changed. Losing a partner can do a lot to a person._

The duo got out of the car and grabbed their partner digimon. Ryouma and his friend offered to help with the baggage, which Rika accepted without hesitation, especially for Ayaka's stuff.

"So, no Ren, huh?" the red-head asked the silver-haired boy.

"No, actually. He'll be doing security at the tournament," Ryouma responded. Rika looked over at a smiling Tagiru once more while the group headed inside. The blond boy was busy talking with Ayaka.

_He doesn't have his goggles. He must have given up once Gumdramon was killed in battle, _the girl observed mentally.

The quartet headed towards the gate. Rika said goodbye to her mother and grandmother before she went onto the plane.

"Remember, the United States has stricter airport security than here so don't be surprised if you get searched," Rumiko advised before Rika headed onto the plane.

"Okay, thanks," Rika said.

"Have a pleasant trip," Seiko said, hugging her granddaughter briefly and smiling.

"And stay safe!" Rumiko added, hugging her daughter tightly. "You never know when something wrong will happen. Call us if you need anything!"

"Alright, good bye, mom," the girl said before detaching herself from her mother and heading into the airport gate.

###

Takato was on a different plane in a separate part of the airport with Guilmon next to him. It was a more comfortable plane by far, since it was Mr. Minamoto's private jet. "Man, this is awesome!" he heard Kazu exclaim, spinning around in his chair. "So, what's the in-flight movie supposed to be?" he asked. Behind him, a black-haired girl rolled her eyes.

"Wow, you have a weird friend," she said as she filed her nails.

Takato grinned. "So, what's your name?"

"You can call me Tawny. So, how's life as a Tamer?" she asked. She definitely didn't like the name, but it worked well as a disguise just as long as Kentaro wasn't the one using it.

"I like it a lot. So, what brings you to Japan?"

"Oh, nothing much. My mom ended up moving here and I've stayed ever since." That was the truth, though she left out the part about time travel.

The Shinjuku duo was surprised when Ren showed up, walking through the doors. "Oh, hi," the quiet boy said, looking a little peeved that the duo was there. Dracmon came up from behind him and got inches away from Guilmon's face, causing the reptile to growl before the little vampire ran off, laughing.

"Gotcha again, dummy!" Dracmon exclaimed.

"So, you're going to be security, too, huh?" Ren inquired, giving the hint of a smile.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kazu asked.

"Oh, nothing. I just didn't expect to see anyone I knew" he said with a smile before sitting down in the seat next to Tanya's. "So, who's the lovely lady and what's her partner?" Ren asked, trying to hit on her.

The girl smiled at him flirtatiously before answering cheerfully. "Oh, no one! I'm just a friend of Mr. Minamoto's, that's all."

"Ah, so that's what you're doing here, huh?"

"Hey, so, what kind of in-flight movies do they got here?" Kazu asked.

"The plane hasn't taken off, yet," Tanya replied.

It was going to be a long eighteen hours. Thankfully Kazu had something in his backpack that he knew would keep him busy. He pulled out a thick batch of paper.

"Wait, Kazu reading? It's a sign of the apocalypse," Ren joked flatly, smirking. Kazu just laughed at him.

"Guess what this is," the brown-haired boy told the hat-wearing tamer from Koto.

"Watch, you printed out a million-word fanfic," Ren guessed.

Kazu rolled his eyes. "Ha ha… Nope, this is the script for the third season of Digimon. It was just leaked the other day," the boy said in an evil smile. "Guess the name of the guy they rescued before cancellation!"

"I have no idea," the Tamer of Koto said, giving up and not really wanting to go along with Kazu's game.

"Koji Minamoto. What a weird coincidence, don't you think?" the brown-haired tamer asked the group. Takato didn't quite believe it.

"What makes you think that's real?" the goggle-headed Tamer asked, doubting that the script could surface after all this time.

"It was taken off of a Hypnos worker's computer and uploaded onto the internet, or at least that's what the website said. This is going to be so awesome!" the boy exclaimed with glee, wrinkling the cover pages of the script he was holding.

Tanya just rolled her eyes. Then she noticed someone walk in and sit down next to her. She turned to see Ezekiel, calculating as always, though she wondered how much of it was just an act.

"Hello, Tanya, I see you've made your acquaintance with the Tamers of Shinjuku," the boy said in Spanish, smiling slightly. It was definitely not Tanya's best language and it took her work just to get it to a passable level.

"Oh, yeah, they're pretty crazy, though not as bad as Kentaro and Osamu can get sometimes," the girl replied with a smile. She was glad to be around Ezekiel.

"Yes, that is true. So, how is Osamu doing these days? Ever hear from him?" the American tamer inquired.

"Of course not. He's in jail right now while the US Government takes apart all his technology and reverse engineers it. That's what he gets for trying to turn the Tamers of Vegas into his own private army." The girl took a deep breath as she braced herself for Ezekiel's next question.

"Where is Kentaro?" the black-haired boy asked with a hint of concern.

"He's hiding in the bathroom. I guess he's too afraid to come meet the others and because of that, he has a horrible stomachache." Tanya made a face that said that she really didn't want to go into detail.

"That happens to my older brother, Diego, occasionally," Ezekiel mentioned offhand, causing Tanya to look at him in surprise at the mention of his name. "You should have seen him before giving a report in class. Every time he gave one, he would inevitably have to go to the bathroom right before his turn. This happened in school all the time. I guess when he gets nervous, his digestive system works on overdrive."

"Wow… That was more about him than I wanted to know," the girl commented with a worried look on her face.

"Believe me; I know far more than I want to and he's my brother. Just imagine living with him," Ezekiel said, cracking a smile.

The girl chuckled uneasily as an announcement came over the intercom, advising all passengers to take a seat. Finally, Kentaro showed up, sitting next to her nervously. His partner sat in the chair next to him while her silver-colored Renamon sat in the vacant seat next to Baalmon. So far, the Tamers of Japan didn't seem to notice the shaking, sweating blond boy.

###

After a couple hours, Kazu had already fallen asleep while reading the script for the third season. He had just gotten to a part where the three heroes were supposed to find a fourth one with their digivice, but, since he wasn't accustomed to reading large amounts, he dozed off and the script was now in a heap on the floor.

Takato was sitting across from him, playing a game on his handheld while Guilmon slept on the ground, kicking Takato's seat every once in a while and most likely dreaming about food. Since Takato had never been out of the country, the farthest place he had ever gone was Okinawa, he looked forward to seeing a new place. Unfortunately, all he saw whenever he looked outside was the vast ocean.

Getting bored with playing a video game, he pulled out his drawing pad and started to draw a few pictures. He enjoyed creating fanart and posting it on the internet and had even taken a few classes on Illustrator and Photoshop. Still, there was nothing like drawing with plain old pen and paper.

So he drew, and this time it was something other than Rika. He drew a random picture of Guardromon, who was standing in the corner. Then he drew a couple of character designs for some story that he had going through his head.

After that, he looked around at all the others who were heading to the tournament for security work. He noticed a silver variant of the Renamon species. _Odd, that's…_ Then he noticed the girl he knew as Tawny, reading something on some sort of flat handheld device that was far too big to be any sort of palm pilot that he knew of and definitely wasn't a laptop. He decided to get up out of his seat and so sat in the vacant chair across from the girl, right next to an unknown digimon, that looked like some sort of giant ninja assassin. He would have to sneak a glance at his digivice…

"So, Tawny, where are you from?" the goggle-wearing Tamer asked the girl, who glanced up from her computer tablet at him. He was amazed at how much make-up she was wearing.

"Oh, nowhere in particular. I was born in Miami, Florida, but since my family moved around a lot, I pretty much saw the entire country," she said.

"Oh, cool. That's where we're going," he said, displaying a rather goofy smile. The black-haired girl in front of him smiled back.

"Yeah, though I don't have any family or friends there, so it's just another city to me. Still, it'll be fun to visit." She glanced back at her tablet. The story was starting to get interesting.

After a few seconds, Takato, bored with the lack of conversation with this mysterious girl, got up out of Kentaro's seat and walked through the nearby doors into a room that was a sort of dining area and kitchen mixed into one. There he spotted the nervous blond boy from earlier, playing games on a tablet like the one that Tanya was using. The goggle-headed boy didn't know him, but, after going into the kitchen and grabbing a snack from the pantry, he sat down across from the blond.

"So, where'd you get one of those?" Takato asked, opening up the package of the ice cream sandwich he was about to eat.

"Oh, I got it for free at my school…" he said, before realizing all the sudden who he was talking to. Then he tensed up, paralyzed and grimacing.

"I didn't know they had computers like that. My dad got a palm pilot when that was all in the rage, but it didn't have any color or anything. Not to mention, using the stylus was a lot of work," the brown-haired boy commented before biting into his ice cream sandwich while looking out the window. Night had apparently caught up with them. "Can I see it?"  
Kentaro was still paralyzed with shock, but he managed to exit the app he was in and hand the tablet over to Takato. The brown-haired boy checked out the home screen. "Where's the stylus?" he asked the blond.

"Uh… It's a touch screen," the blond said, stuttering a little bit.

Takato kind of understood what the blond was getting at, so he pressed down on the screen against one of the icons. The screen was also high-definition 3D without the need of glasses, which astonished the brown-haired boy. The icon he clicked, though, was an app for browsing the web. Once it opened up, Takato received an error message saying that the device couldn't access the internet. He showed it to the blond.

"Yeah, you… kind of… need Wi-Fi. Sorry. The games still work good… though," the blond stuttered out.

Takato wondered what was with the blond Asian kid who looked scared to death of him and also had no idea what Wi-Fi was. At first he thought he was some sort of nervous fan, but then he realized that the technology he had in his hand was far too advanced.

"What's your name?" the goggle-headed boy asked the blond with a bit of caution, already knowing the answer.

"Kentaro… Kentaro Takaishi," the blond blurted out, beads of sweat coming down his forehead.

"And your black-haired friend out there?" Takato inquired.

"She's Tanya."

Takato didn't know what to say to all this. It was beyond impossible for a couple of characters from some TV show to be there, on that very plane with him and his friends. Still, he knew one thing about Kentaro. "You're dating Jeri," he said plainly, surprised that such a meeting would happen and also surprised that he was holding irrefutable proof that Takaishi was who he said he was.

The brown-haired boy plopped the futuristic tablet on the table, got up and walked into the other room where he sat in his chair and closed his eyes, hoping to wake up from this bizarre dream.

###

Somewhere else in the world, Kyle Dibenko's alarm went off for the fifth time that morning. He really wasn't a morning person and if he had his way, he'd be sleeping in until noon, like he did on most summer days. Unfortunately for him, his plane left at seven and it was already a quarter to five. Also, his mother decided to knock on the door.

"Get up, Kyle! You're going to miss your flight!" he heard her yell out in her lightly accented English, causing him to shoot right up and wipe the sleep out of his bloodshot eyes, groggily getting up and out of bed. He shaved, he showered and he went down stairs and ate while his dad sat across from him. The middle-aged Russian man was sipping his coffee while reading a novel, glancing up at his son, who was hurriedly eating a bowl of cereal.

"Slow down or you going to choke on marshmallow or something," the man commented in a heavy accent. "The plane don't leave until at seven."

"Don't worry, I know that, dad," Kyle said as ViElecmon came up to the table and sat in a chair.

"So, what am I going to eat?" the rabbit asked in a deep voice. "I can't exactly reach the cupboards, you know?"

"I get food for the rabbit," Mr. Dibenko said calmly, getting up and walking into the kitchen before coming out a few seconds later with a bowl of cereal for the purple digimon. Of course, Kyle was almost completely finished at that point. Thankfully, ViElecmon just swallowed everything that was in the bowl.

"You know, I kind of like this food better when I get to savor it. Thanks for getting me up, Kyle," the purple rabbit said sarcastically.

The teen with the curly brown hair was too busy looking at his digivice. "I got a message from Gunther," he said. "Apparently, he just took down a rogue Tamer who was using him for some reason."  
"How fares the German these days?" Kyle's dad asked with a bit of a smile.

"He's doing pretty good. Still hasn't found his parents, but he might have a few leads. Supposedly they were called up by some guy who said he was working for Echelon who wanted them to work for him, but he doesn't know who the person was or what they really wanted," Kyle explained, worried for his German friend. "Other than that, for the past week and a half, he's been having me do some beta work for this really cool digivice app."

Mr. Dibenko just nodded, not really caring about what Kyle had on that thing.

"So, are you ready to go?" Kyle's mother asked as she walked downstairs, her brown hair done in fancy way. The brown-haired teen wondered how long she spent doing it each morning for it to look so good.

"Heck yeah, I'm ready!" he exclaimed, excited to be traveling across the country.

"Good for you," Mr. Dibenko said, smiling wide before getting up.

###

Consuelo and Falcomon arrived at the Guevara house in a timely fashion and the door opened up to show Diego's mother, a really skinny woman in her mid-thirties with long, brown hair. "Good morning, Consuelo! Come on in!" she said in slightly accented English. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing great," Consuelo answered. "How about you, Lidia?"

"I'm going to miss my boy, but he's taken trips before. He'll be fine," the petite woman responded graciously. Consuelo was amazed that Diego's mother liked her so much from the stories that he and Fernando told about her ruling over her house with an iron fist, second in authority only to his father, Geraldo.

The girl noticed Fernando walk in, smiling. "Hey, Consuelo! How's it going?" he greeted.

"Great, is Diego up yet?" she asked, somewhat wary of the mischievous eleven-year-old.

"Yeah, he's in his room and dressed," the kid said, continuing to smile as the Chicano girl walked past the kitchen and down the hall to the boy's room. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of not knocking and opened the door up to the stocky teen barely putting on his boxers, a scene that made her shriek and walk into the other room, blushing. She was slightly irritated by Fernando, who she could tell was laughing like the little brat that he was and his mother was glaring at him.

"Oh, Consuelo! What brings you here this beautiful pre-dawn morning?" Geraldo asked, walking into the room. He was the same height as his son and not quite as tall as his brother, Antonio, and, unlike his brother, he had straight hair that was starting to recede instead of a full head of curly hair.

"Oh, nothing," she said, bubbly, though still slightly embarrassed of what just happened. "I'm just here to see Diego off."

The man looked at her, thinking about what might have been going on between her and his son.

After that, Diego came into the room, wearing a blue shirt and a pair of black pants with his laptop bag over his shoulder and spotted his parents, his mischievous younger brother, and his closest female friend.

Consuelo was still blushing. "I… I'm so sorry! I totally didn't mean that!" she apologized profusely.

Diego smiled. "Don't worry about it. It could have been worse." Then he glared at his brown-haired younger brother who was smiling. "Fernando, did you tell her that I was dressed?"  
"He did," Diego's mother answered for the kid, angry. "And because of that, he's grounded for the weekend."

"Mom!" Fernando objected loudly.

"Oh, come on. You don't pull pranks like that, kid. She could have seen something that she wasn't supposed to. That could have ruined their friendship. Don't do it again!" Geraldo snapped. "So, you won't be watching any TV, playing any videogames or having friends over. Got that, kid?"

"Hey! Come on!" the brown-haired kid objected, grimacing.

"No, you're grounded."

"Like I say, it could have been worse," the bespectacled girl said, trying to reassure the others. "All I saw was his red underwear."

Diego blushed, turning almost as red as his undergarments. "Like I say, I'm very sorry."  
Consuelo chuckled before going back to the manga she was reading.

Then Fernando realized something: "Hey, where's Gaomon?"

Diego was wondering the same thing. His partner showed up after a couple minutes along with DemiDevimon. "So, yeah, go to Disney World for me, will ya?" the bat asked.

"Somehow I doubt we have either the time or the money to do so," the blue dog responded. "Are you ready, Diego?"

"Oh yeah!" the teen exclaimed, ready to go on another adventure.

###

The ride down to the airport was uneventful, but Diego didn't mind. He had a surprise for Consuelo that he didn't want his parents to know about just yet. They were just friends, but a part of each of them wanted something more. Diego stared out the window, trying to think of a way to talk to the girl without his parents finding out immediately. He glanced over at her from time to time, being careful not to get the attention of his younger brother, who was busy playing a game on his Game Boy.

The girl was still reading some manga. Diego could never get into those, though he like comics and actually had some paperbacks of some of the classic X-Men stories. Still, he decided he might as well start up a conversation. "Whatcha reading?" he asked Consuelo, grinning.

"I'm not reading anything," his younger brother responded, prompting a giggle from Consuelo and an elbowing from Diego.

"Ai Yori Aoshi. It's a romance manga about two characters who hadn't seen each other in years but were good childhood friends. It's been so good so far!" she said, going into giddy fangirl mode again. Diego just smiled and listened to her. "You read much manga, Diego?"

"No, not really. It's just not my thing," the stocky boy responded with an open smile.

"Don't worry, I understand. Everybody's got different tastes in stuff. So, you want to hear what it's about?" the girl asked. Diego didn't really want to, but he also didn't want to turn the girl down.

"Sure," he said, smiling despite kicking himself inside.

"Well, anyway, it's about this guy, who seems like an ordinary high school student…" Consuelo started.

"But he fights crime with magical powers," Fernando interrupted, annoying his older brother.

"Fernando, don't interrupt," Diego ordered, prompting a laugh from his younger brother.

Consuelo smiled, though even she was annoyed by the kid. "Well, anyway, it turns out that he's actually the heir to his father's company. Unfortunately, things were complicated because his parents never married and his father died when he was five. Since then, his grandfather took him under his wing. Unfortunately, he didn't feel at home."

"Sound's kind of boring," Fernando remarked, still playing his game.

"Fernando! That's not a very nice thing to say!" Diego objected.

It was then that they entered into the tunnel leading to the airport. "Wow, we're almost there. I've never been to the airport before," Consuelo said, surprising Diego.

"Wait, you haven't? Funny, I've gone through this place at least once a year to visit family in Chile," the stocky teen told her.

"That sounds so awesome. I'd love to go to another country someday. Too bad I don't even have my passport," she said, smiling.

"Maybe someday I can take you," Diego offered, causing the girl to smile even more.

"Sure, I'd love to," Consuelo told him. From the front passenger seat, Diego's father lowered the mirror to see them, his eyes narrowing.

###

A few minutes later, the group finally reached the front gates for McCarran International Airport. While in line for checking out baggage, Diego finally spotted Kyle, coming in later than he did. He waved and his parents turned around. They went over and said hi to his parents, a pair of Russian immigrants who came to the United States in the early 80s. Kyle immediately went down the same line that Diego was in for baggage and said hi.

"What's up, man? Ready for the trip?" he asked excitedly and with a really wide smile. He was definitely exited to go.

"Definitely," the black-haired teen responded, smiling back.

"I see your girlfriend came by to say good-bye," Kyle commented playfully, looking over at Consuelo, who was very enthusiastically talking with Kyle's parents with Falcomon behind her.

"She's not my girlfriend," he said before thinking, _yet._ "…but yeah. She actually rode down with me and my parents. Oh, yeah, and Fernando's grounded for the weekend for telling her that I was dressed when I had barely put on my underwear."

Kyle laughed at that one. "You're joking, right?"

"Oh, no," Diego remarked, shaking his head. "It was pretty embarrassing."

"You know, man? I don't know what to do with that crazy little kid. I guess we'll have to find out when we get back," Kyle said, fingering the handle on his suitcase.

"So, how are we handling the digimon situation?" Diego asked.

"On the plane or here at home while we're gone?" Kyle inquired.

"Both."

"Well, I was thinking we'd devolve our partners to their in-training forms and keep them in our carry-ons until we get on the plane. There shouldn't be too many people on them this time on a Friday morning. As far as the digimon situation here at home, I gave Consuelo some pretty clear instructions. If the digimon is nice, she has a list of people she can give it to."  
Diego nodded until the last part sunk in. "Like who?" he asked with fear.

"Oh, don't worry, it's a list of people we know. Cristóbal Irizarry is on top of it, by the way."

Diego didn't know what to think about that. "Be careful. He might give digimon to every one of his friends across Vegas, which he has like a hundred of."

"The more the merrier. Besides, the teams could get filled out some more," Kyle said with a smile, referring to the north Vegas team, which they were a part of and the south Vegas team, which split off from the northern one shortly after the national tournament and before Rika's visit.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just paranoid that the wrong person's going to get a partner and we'll end up having to put it down, kind of like with that Eduardo guy," Diego commented, thinking. It was about then that Diego checked in his suitcase followed by Kyle. After the two were done, they went over to say good bye to their families.

"So, this it?" Kyle's dad, a tall, brown-haired man asked in a strong Russian accent.

"Looks like it," the tall brown-haired teen said. "Hopefully nothing crazy'll happen there like at Nationals."

"If it does, then you're not going to any more of these tournaments," his mother said matter-of-factly in a lighter accent. She had long, flowing brown hair and she was a little bit shorter than her husband.

"Yeah, no kidding," Geraldo said, chuckling at the situation. "It seems like these tournaments are magnets for that sort of thing."

"At least we have partners so that we can show these rogue Tamers who's boss," Kyle exclaimed, smiling.

"Yeah, I guess we'll see you guys all after the tournament," Diego said. "Consuelo, can I talk to you for a couple minutes in private?"

###

Consuelo wondered what her friend wanted to talk to her about, so she nodded and followed the chubby boy out of earshot from the rest of the parents. Fernando got this mischievous look on his face and was about to follow as well when he was pulled back by his mother.

"You know better than to be listening to private conversations," the woman told him in a tone that made him stand still in fright. After all, he was already grounded and chances were that his parents would add onto it if he got on their bad side any more.

Diego and Consuelo found themselves away from his parents' listening ears. The girl was waiting for whatever it was he wanted to do. "Hey," he simply said.

"Uh, hey, what's up?" she said with her usual cheeriness.

Diego pulled out three small slips of paper. "Would you like to go to a concert with me in October?" he asked, nervously, handing the slips of paper to the girl. She then realized that they were tickets. However, she was completely taken aback by the band.

"No, way! Dave Matthew's Band? Live!" she shifted from being somewhat cautious to being an ecstatic fangirl. "I can't believe it! I get to see my favorite band in concert!"

Diego smiled widely. "So, it's a go?"

"I'd love to!" Then she wondered something and a look of concern came across her face. "Why three tickets?"

"Oh, I thought that you could bring a friend if you wanted. Or I could, whichever you preferred," the portly teen suggested nervously. He was starting to get a stomachache from the stress.

"Sure!" she exclaimed, hugging Diego, who returned the hug back. "Just come back for me, okay?"

Diego nodded, smiling. "Sure thing. Don't get too bored while I'm gone!" he joked, smiling at her.

"Oh, please, with your brother around, it's never a dull moment," she joked, giggling and looking forward to his return.

###

When her plane landed, Rika was more than ready to get out, go through customs and get something to eat that wasn't cheap airline food. Ayaka was the same way. As the two of them got out of the plane, they talked about it.

"So, where do you want to eat before we go to the docks for the tournament?" Ayaka asked, before her stomach started to grumble.

"I don't know. Let's just look around the airport," Rika suggested. "Renamon?"

The yellow fox appeared with Syakomon in her arms. "Yes, Rika?"

"How was your trip?" the girl asked her partner. Renamon was a bit taken aback by it but she regained her composure.

"It was… okay. Still, the cargo hold wasn't exactly my cup of tea," the kitsune responded.

"It was dark, cramped and full of suitcases," Syakomon said sleepily. "It was so boring!"

"She also had to use the bathroom constantly. It was a bit annoying," Renamon added, barely concealing a grimace.

The girls and their partners walked through the airport. When they reached outside, though, they were approached by a man wearing a black suit. "Excuse me, are you here for the tournament?" the man asked, getting a nod from Rika.

"What of it?" the red-head asked.

"I work for Bandai here in America and I'm supposed to tell you that all participants in the tournament are to go to this location," he said, handing Rika a map. "It's where the cruise ship for the tournament will disembark. Also, there will be a celebration onboard before the tournament actually starts."

"A party?" Ayaka asked, a little bit of excitement in her voice.

"Exactly. We figured that it would be best for each of the contestants to get to know each other," the man said. "Besides, with the way the tournament is set up, it's not like you're going to have much of a chance. By the way, a Taxi is waiting for you to take you there, expenses paid."

"Okay, thank you very much." Rika said, bowing, a gesture the man wasn't used to. Then the man spotted Ryouma and Tagiru.

"Well, there are more I need to talk to, so take care!" the man exclaimed, moving toward the other Japanese Tamers.

Rika and Ayaka found the Taxi without difficulty and headed straight for the party.

###

Something flew through the air at supersonic speeds. Whatever it was, it soared through the clouds, causing holes to form through each of the cumuli it tore through before landing in Miami.

The large digimon with black armor with series of red stripes along it split into two: Eduardo Diaz and Coonmon, who quickly jumped up onto his partner's shoulder. Ed was wearing a newsboy hat that covered over his already-partially grown hair.

Eduardo walked briskly, checking his digivice every so often for a message from any of his allies and carrying a backpack full of clothes. He finally got a message from Francesca.

Opening the message up, he read it.

"_Meet at the Hilton closest to the docks."_

Eduardo looked it over before searching for the hotel using his digivice's GPS function. Immediately, Coonmon ran off, following the stocky boy from a short distance, controlling each move. Their mental link was part of how the two of them were able to biomerge so easily, although Coonmon was basically the one in control at that point. This was especially the case after the battle in which they successfully biomerged for the first time.

The mad raccoon shuddered at the thought of it.

Ed finally made it to the hotel, and, at Coonmon's command, sat down. The raccoon realized that he would have to keep a tight grip on his partner because he knew that the guilt the teen experienced would rise to the surface if he didn't. For a couple minutes, the two of them waited until the familiar girl showed up.

"Hello, honey, how are you doing today, hmm?" the girl greeted the boy, who smiled at her eerily. She had clearly changed her get-up from the stereotypical Goth outfit to that of a preppy blonde who was wearing a light green v-neck shirt over a white undershirt as well as a pair of form-fitting jeans. She smiled.

"I'm doing pretty well. And you?" Eduardo spoke slowly. Coonmon hoped this little episode dealing with his guilt would end soon. He was getting tired of filtering through each and every thought that went through the light-skinned boy's mind.

"Never been better," Francesca responded. "BlackGatomon's a bit frisky right now, but other than that…"

"Good, now we can start this?" Coonmon asked through Ed, moving out with her following behind. Coonmon didn't trust the girl and wanted to keep tabs on her at all times. Ed was going to obey his partner's wishes simply because he had to or else.

He wanted to escape.

###

Next Chapter: Sail

A/N:If you're thinking there are too many characters: don't worry, I don't plan on introducing any more major characters from here on out. Just about everyone who is important has been introduced.

I figured that before I write the next part, I'd detail a little about what the various enemies have been doing. It gets complicated. You don't just have Eduardo (who's actually plotting against Coonmon); you also have Francesca and Gregor as well, each with their own agenda. There's also another group of villains out there that haven't shown up yet and won't for a while.

The Season 3 Plotline: Yeah, this is more or less a holdover from the prequel fic: The Empty World (which I'm probably going to be re-editing in between chapters here). Osamu's obviously Ken's son and Kentaro's obviously Takeru's, but who's Tanya the daughter of? And what exactly is it that they're trying to do (the answer is partially in The Empty World, which is probably going to be one of the things that'll be edited out). And then there's Yahiko, who hasn't showed up. I'll say that unlike the other four time-travelers and their partners (including Koji), he stayed in the future. He won't be appearing until the epilogue, and I hope to have him as a more interesting character than he was during his brief appearance in The Empty World.

Funny, I was hoping to have Consuelo read some stereotypical Shojo manga, but I had her read a seinen instead… Oh well. Just so you know, I haven't read it. A (former) friend of mine did, years ago, but other than that, all I know about Ai Yori Aoshi is from Wikipedia.

Also, as always, reviews are greatly appreciated, even if they're critical.


	8. Setting Sail

Chapter 8: Setting Sail

###

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, and don't bug me about it. I just own the OCs.

###

Takato felt the tropical breeze come against his face. Being in Florida reminded him of Okinawa, though with a vastly different culture and language. Instead of the Ryukyuan people and languages of Okinawa, he had to deal with Americans, ranging from blond Europeans to white and mestizo Cubans to blacks. Then there were the languages. He knew English from practice online as well as classes through Hypnos, but he knew nothing of Spanish, other than that it sounded completely different to him from English.

He took the sights in: the clear, blue waters, the many palm trees, the fresh, salty air. He found it funny that most of what he knew of this place was from watching episodes of CSI: Miami.

"Hey, man, check out the girls!" Kazu exclaimed, pointing out a number of bikini-clad beach-goers and trying to ignore the ugly ones or the guys.

"Well, they did say that we were going to be taking off right by a beach," Ren indicated, looking over at the visor-wearing teen with annoyance.

"So, Ezekiel, what are you still doing here?" Takato asked the black-haired teen, who was standing with them. Until the party started, they all got to hang out in their informal attire. For some reason, both Takato and Kazu were wearing Hawaiian shirts and the latter was wearing sunglasses.

"I'm waiting. Checking my digivice earlier, I detected my brother," the rogue said with determination. "He's in town."

"You mean the kid with a Devimon?" Kazu inquired, getting a shake of the head from Ezekiel.

"No, my older brother, Diego," Ezekiel explained. "They're both Tamers. I thought I mentioned that."

"It's kind of hard to remember these things when they live thousands of miles away," Kazu said. "Oh crap, here come Rika and Ayaka!" the brown-haired boy said before running off. Takato looked on in confusion.

"Hey, Takato, hey, Ren!" Rika greeted, pulling her luggage.

Takato was going to offer to take her suitcase to her room for her, but Ren beat him to the punch. "Would you like me to carry your luggage?" the hat-wearing teen asked.

"Oh, I would love it," Rika said with a smile before turning to Takato. "Are you going to help too, Takato?"

"Uh, sure. No problem. Oh, hi, Ayaka," the goggle-headed boy said as he picked up her suitcase.

"Thank you, Takato," the blond said with a wide smile as they took their stuff to the room. The goggle-head was dumbfounded by the room.

"Whoa, two king-sized beds, a fridge, a window over the sea and…" Takato looked into the bathroom. "Is that a Jacuzzi?"

"Yeah," Rika said, looking over the room with a bit of disdain. "Talk about elaborate. Why do I get the feeling my mom pulled some strings to get me the best room possible?"

"This is going to be great!" Ayaka exclaimed. "I can't wait to see all the hot-looking foreign guys."

"Ayaka, most of them are probably going to be nerds," Rika warned, causing the blonde to cringe.

Takato and Kazu put the suitcases all down just as the red-head realized something. "Hey, don't you have to do security work?" she asked the duo with a confused expression.

"Nope, not until later!" Kazu exclaimed.

"Yeah, we have a meeting right before the party tonight and then we have to make sure nobody does anything stupid. I'm not sure about the specifics," Takato said, scratching his chin.

"Remember to look out for Diaz while you're there," Rika told them. "You guys saw the pictures, right?"

"Dude, when I tried looking at all the info you and that one Alex guy got on him, it was all classified!" Kazu exclaimed, annoyed. "What gives?"

"That… is weird," was Rika's reaction. "Maybe it's just classified to you since you're less likely to go on an overseas mission."

"Actually, I couldn't access it either," Takato commented. "Maybe there's something really sensitive in there. Anything you figured out?"

"His dad's name is Carlos Ortega and I also got a few pictures of pictures in his room," Rika stated, pulling out her camera phone. "There they are…" Rika looked at them for a second. "Is it just me, or does he look like…"

"So, that's what he looks like without a beard, huh?" Kazu asked.

"Yeah, but he also looks like someone else that's here at the tournament, so if you see someone, it might not be him. Look at the partner digimon. If it's something other than Coonmon, the guy's not Diaz." Rika was surprised she didn't notice that before.

"Wait, does he have like a long lost twin brother or something?" Kazu asked. "That _is _weird."

"They're not twins, or even siblings. I thought…" Rika got lost in thought for a second. "Like I say, if he's with a digimon other than Coonmon, it's not him. You remember Kyle from a couple years ago, right?"

"Kyle! Oh, man, that guy?" Kazu exclaimed. "We play StarCraft against each other once a week."

Rika looked at the visor-wearing boy in surprise. "You play real-time strategy?" the red-head asked, doubtful.

"Yeah, Kazu loses a lot, though," Takato said.

"Hey, just because Kyle knows how to screw around with his units in weird ways doesn't mean he's a better player," Kazu objected.

"Takato, StarCraft's the game you play against all your friends, right?" Guilmon asked.

"Wow, I can't believe you guys play that," Ayaka said, amazed at how nerdy her friends were.

"Yeah, how come you guys never invited me, huh?" Rika asked, smiling.

"You play StarCraft?" Kazu asked, really surprised at that, getting a nod from the red-head.

"You bet," the red-head said, before saying her goodbyes and pushing the others out the door and looking forward to her sessions of beating them at their own game yet again.

###

"Oh yeah! Living in luxury! This is more like it!" Kyle exclaimed, walking into their room. "Yeah, this is definitely better than that room they almost put us in." He shuddered before looking behind to see Diego and Gaomon with their bags.

"It seems like adequate sleeping arrangements," Gaomon commented, dropping his bags on the other bed before walking over to the balcony to look at the vast, blue sea.

"Considering I'm probably going to be alone here, it better be," Diego remarked, setting his bags down. Kyle explored the room, which was far less fancy than Rika's. He walked over to the fridge and checked inside.

"Whoa! Champagne! Do they think we're honeymooners or something?" Kyle joked, pulling out a bottle of the stuff.

"Wait, they have alcohol in here?" Diego asked, flabbergasted by the sight. "Aren't most of the people here underage?"

"Hey, I'm just messing with you. It's just some apple cider," Kyle said before putting the bottle back. "So, if you ever marry Consuelo, you think you'd take her on a cruise like this?"

"We're not officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet, Kyle," the chubby boy retorted, glaring at his friend for asking.

"Oh, please, you asked her to go to a concert with you. Heck, I don't even like the band you chose and yet I would have done the same thing with a girl I liked," the brown-haired teen responded with a teasing expression.

"What kind of music _do _you like?" Gaomon asked.

"Rock, as in actual rock. You know, the good bands that aren't always playing on the radio. Most of them you'd probably never have heard of," Kyle boasted, looking out the w

###

Ed just lay on his bed, trying not to think about the horrors he had experienced. His partner was constantly looking at him, filtering his thoughts using his telepathy. He wished he could leave, just run away and never come back… possibly even turn himself in. He had already gone to the Prison near Cañon City, Colorado once, during the one time Coonmon stayed in his Ultimate form for nearly a week just so he could get information from a former associate.

However, this time he wanted out. Even his partner couldn't filter out all his thoughts.

He was about to doze off into a nightmare-filled sleep when he heard a knock at the door. "Come in!" he said, forcing himself to sit up in bed. Gregor Shröder, his partner-in-crime from Germany, walked into the room, surprising him.

"Good afternoon, Ed, how's it going?" the tall teen said haughtily, smiling slightly and walking into the room before sitting down on the bed across from his accomplice.

"Terrible. I thought you were dead," the heavy teen said, slightly shocked by his acquaintance's appearance.

"Well, I guess I _am_ legally," the German said cockily. "But, that helps me since the idiots at Echelon didn't even bother to put me on the wanted list. All my other followers knew that I was still around, though, since they actually read my e-mails," the brown-haired teen said, his face turning into a slight glare. "By the way, it's good you were going to go on without me anyway."

"Actually…" Ed received a mental shock from his partner before he could voice his objections, causing him to hold the sides of his head.

"What is it? You're not having doubts, are you? You've been loyal this whole time. You better not defect," Gregor said angrily.

"I won't!" Ed shouted.

Greg smiled toothily. "That's what I like to hear. Now, don't let anyone know I'm still alive. Some of the contestants work for me, so this should be an easy plot."

"Who did you recruit?" Ed asked, still recovering from the head pain that he had experienced.

"A few people. That's all you need to know. I'll send them after contestants that I don't like. The plan is that it's just me, my group and Rika in the end," the lanky teen said, a disturbing grin coming across his face. "Anyway, I guess I'll see you at the dinner or at the very least, tomorrow. You will be there, won't you?"

Ed felt severe dread as soon as his accomplice left. What had he gotten into?

He then looked over to his partner, who continued to try blocking his negative thoughts.

###

Takato wandered through the halls with Guilmon by his side. "So, Takato, can I go swimming? Please?"

"After we go to the meeting, okay, buddy?" the goggle-headed teen assured his partner.

"Aw, but meetings are boring!" the red-dino complained.

The two then walked into the meeting room, where there were numerous other Tamers and their partners. The meeting hadn't started yet, but Takato felt all eyes land on him as soon as he entered.

"Why are they staring at us, Takato?" Guilmon inquired.

"No way," a Native American Tamer said.

"It's Takato Matsuki!" a black Tamer exclaimed. "He's really here!"

Takato glanced over to see Tanya rolling her eyes.

"Hey, can I get your autograph?" another Tamer, a brown-haired teen, asked in a stereotypical Canadian accent that Takato could barely understand as everyone started to crowd around him.

"Everybody, stop it!" Tanya yelled, angry that everyone would do such a thing. "Takato is here by request and can leave at any time. If you do what you just did again, he's going to have a panic attack, okay?"

Takato smiled uneasily, though he was happy this girl came to his rescue.

"Wow, Takato, you're really popular," Guilmon commented. "Yay!"

The goggle-headed boy groaned as Kazu walked in, followed by Guardromon and looking rather disappointed. Upon seeing the girl, Kazu checked her out.

"Hey, how come nobody's asking for _my _autograph?" the visor-wearing Tamer asked.

"Who the heck are you?" some random person in the group asked.

"Okay, I guess it's time to start this meeting," Tanya told the group as Kazu sat down next to Takato. The girl picked up a pile of papers and started to hand them out. "First off, you can call me Herlinda. These are lists of policies and whatnot. We'll start by going over those."

Takato was a bit confused. "Didn't she say her name was Tawny?" he asked Kazu in a whisper. Of course, he knew the girl's true identity.

"Yeah, she's weird, man. I think she just made those names up," the visor-wearing teen replied, not exactly whispering back.

"Mr. Shiota, do you have something to say to the class?" Tanya asked Kazu, putting him on the spot.

"Oh, just that Takato and I think you're lying about your name, Tawny," Kazu said.

The black-haired girl gritted her teeth. "I just told the group they could call me Herlinda. That's my middle name."

"Yeah, Tawny Herlinda…" Kazu's mouth was covered by Takato.

"Sorry about my friend, Tanya. He's got a bit of a big mouth," the goggle-wearing Tamer admitted.

Tanya took a deep breath while rolling her eyes. "Well, let's continue." After that, they went over safety procedures, emergency information and jobs. Each of the Tamers in the room volunteered for something except for Takato and Kazu, who, despite raising their hands, didn't get called on. After that, the rest of the room left.

"So, we didn't get jobs," Kazu said, indignant. "What gives?"

The black-haired girl turned a chair around and sat in front of the two Tamers and their partners. "I have a special assignment for you two," she said. "One of the contestants had a threat posted against him. Because of that, we're afraid someone will try and kidnap him during the tournament. What you two need to do is protect him with your life."

"Oh, okay, that's interesting," Takato responded, not quite sure of what to think of this.

"Boring!" Kazu exclaimed, getting a piercing glare from Tanya. "What? We came for excitement and we have to babysit some idiot we don't even know?"

Tanya took a deep breath. "Shut up, Kazu. By the way, Takato, I would recommend that you don't reveal my identity to everyone on earth. Same with Kentaro," she said.

"Oh, uh… sorry about that one," Takato said, smiling at her. "It kind of slipped out."

"Wait…" Kazu's eyes narrowed. "You mean this chick is Tanya Ge…"

"Yeah, I'm the character from the TV show. I came through the TV to save the world," she said sarcastically.

"So, who's the guy we have to keep tabs on?" Takato asked.

"You'll find his information on this sheet of paper," she said, handing them a thick packet.

Takato smiled nervously, nodding.

"Okay, dismissed. Enjoy your trip and pray it's uneventful," she said bluntly as the two Tamers and their partners left the room.

###

Upon leaving, Takato wandered through the cruise ship. They still hadn't disembarked, yet the goggle-wearing boy was surprised to spot Ezekiel and his partner walking through the halls, following the signal on his digivice.

The brown-haired Tamer had no idea what to think of the American, so he followed from afar, making sure that Ezekiel didn't notice him or Guilmon.

"Takato, what are we doing?" the dino asked as his partner glanced around the corner at Ezekiel, who had stopped at a door.

"Quiet, Guilmon," the brown-haired teen told him. The next thing he noticed, Ezekiel's head had turned toward them.

"Takato, I know you're down there," he said, walking toward him, grimacing and slightly peeved.

"Uh, hey, Ezekiel. I thought you weren't going to work with us," Takato said nervously as the skinny, black-haired teen walked up to him, leaving only a couple feet in between the two.

"I'm not. I'm just here to visit someone," he said seriously, adjusting his sunglasses. "If you don't mind, I'd like a little bit of privacy."

"Oh, okay, like when Takato takes a bath," Guilmon said innocently, confusing the poor American.

"Actually… oh, nevermind," Ezekiel said, taking a deep breath and dropping his arms. He did not want to visualize that.

"Who are you going to meet?" Takato asked, curiously. When the black-haired Tamer stumbled, his partner answered instead.

"His brother is on board this ship," Dobermon said, getting straight to the point.

"This is my final opportunity to see him before turning myself in. I want to apologize for what happened back in Vegas," he admitted. "No, if you'll excuse me…"

"Oh, okay, good luck," Takato said. "I guess this'll be the last time I'll see you, then."

Ezekiel nodded. "Tell the rest I said good-bye." The two walked off in opposite directions as Ezekiel inched toward the other door.

###

Diego was busy playing the saxophone when someone knocked at the door. He wanted just a few minutes alone and away from Kyle, who was probably exploring the ship and talking to everyone he came across. In fact, the only reason he picked up playing the sax again was to relieve stress. Not feeling like opening the door to the guy who probably forgot his key again like in New York, he spoke to his partner.

"Gaomon, can you go get that?" he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he looked over some sheet music he was trying to learn.

"Yes, Diego, I will do that at once," the blue dog said, getting up out of his chair and walking toward the door. He turned the doorknob, revealing his partner's visitor.

"Hello, brother," Ezekiel said nervously as he walked in and faced his older sibling.

"Oh, hey!" Diego exclaimed, putting his instrument down on the bed and running over to his smaller brother and hugging him. "What's up? Where have you been all this time?"

Ezekiel was really confused, and as his brother let go, he asked him a question. "You… you're not mad?"

Diego shook his head and smiled. "Of course not," he said. "It's been a few weeks and you obviously weren't yourself when you faced Kyle back then."

The sunglass-sporting teen looked at him in confusion. "What did he tell you?" he asked.

"He told me everything from his point of view. In New York, at the National Tournament, we faced Blaine, who said that he used you to test us, apparently," Diego explained, still amazed that his brother actually showed up. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to, at our uncle's suggestion, turn myself in," Ezekiel replied, dreading the moment when he would do that. Diego had a confused look on his face from that.

"Which uncle?" he asked. "We have, like, ten of them."

"Antonio," Ezekiel said, surprising his older brother.

"Funny, a Tamer from Japan came and visited us a couple weeks ago and didn't even mention you," Diego explained.

"Yeah, I asked her not to," Ezekiel admitted. For the next few minutes, the two of them caught up on life and what it was like for the two Tamers. Ezekiel talked about his dealings with the Tamers of Shinjuku while Diego talked about how the Vegas team was split in two and mentioned Consuelo, though as a new recruit.

"She seems like a nice girl and a good teammate, I guess," the skinny teen commented, smiling. "Well, it was good talking to you. I better get going before the ship disembarks."

Diego nodded. "Alright. Hopefully Echelon won't keep you for long." The chubby teen then hugged his younger brother for one last time. "See you later, bro!"

Ezekiel smiled as he left. "See you around and say hi to Kyle for me. Tell him I'm truly sorry for what I did."

Diego nodded.

###

About an hour after the ship disembarked, Rika went up to the deck to look out at the fading city in the distance. She was amazed at the sight. True, she had been around the sea before, however, it still seemed to take her breath away whenever she found herself in the middle of it.

Losing herself in the beauty of the ocean was one of the reasons she didn't notice Takato lean against the railing next to her until he spoke. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, startling her.

"Takato!" she yelled, partially out of anger and partially out of surprise. "What do you want, gogglehead?"

"Nothing much, I'm just here to say hello. That's all," he said, smiling lightly. "By the way, I met Jeri's boyfriend."

Rika looked at him in shock. "You have got to be kidding me," she said. "Who is he?"

"His name is, believe it or not, Kentaro Takaishi. He's… I guess I could say that he's really nervous around me."

The red-head didn't look very convinced. "He's faking it. I bet he's some sort of imposter. But still, how could someone like Jeri fall for him even though it's so obvious?"

"Actually, I don't think he is," Takato said. "Remember that Osamu Ichijouji guy who posed as a man named Blaine?" he asked.

"Yeah, and he supposedly had advanced technology _and _a different digivice," Rika remembered. "Wait, you don't actually believe that the guy is who he says he is, do you?"

Takato nodded. "I found a piece of technology that Kentaro had from the future. It was like some sort of palm pilot, but bigger and flatter. It also had a color screen with great resolution and it seemed to have depth, like one of those 3-D movies but not as annoying."

Rika looked at him like he was nuts. "Okay, I know you're telling the truth, but… time travel and dimension hopping? That's something out of science fiction!"

"Aren't Digimon?" he asked, causing her to flinch.

"You have a point there, gogglehead," she admitted. "But still, how do you know that this guy is good for Jeri?"

"I don't know yet. Here's the thing, I really care for Jeri as a friend and I don't want her to be hurt. That's why I'm going to talk to Kentaro and find out who he really is," he said, leaning back on the rail.

Rika nodded. "What do you think of me?" she asked, hoping for an honest answer. Takato gave her a nod.

_Crap, why is she asking me this? _Takato took a deep breath before speaking again, trying to get his thoughts in order to say what he wanted to say in a way that wouldn't offend the girl and wouldn't ruin their friendship. "I… I like you, but I know you don't want a relationship and I won't press it," the goggle-headed teen admitted, smiling uneasily.

Rika smiled back. "Thank you."

"Let's not let anything else get in the way of our friendship, okay?" he asked, getting a nod from the red-head.

"Okay, definitely not," she said, remembering the harsh words she said all that time ago.

_"Hey, Rika, so, how are things going?" Takato asked as the two wandered through town on their way from a bioemergence._

_ "Alright. I'm just kind of bored right now. It seems like nobody's doing anything right now," she said, groaning. "What about you?" _

_ "I'm in the same boat as you. So… uh…" He paused for a few seconds to figure out how to word it. "…you want to go with me to the movies?" Takato asked, scratching the back of his head. Rika looked at him as if he was crazy._

_ "Takato, are you asking me out?" she asked, annoyed and raising an eyebrow. She didn't want this, one bit._

_ "Uh… no… I mean yes…" he stumbled._

_ "Takato, I said no. Don't you remember two years ago?" she asked, angrily, hoping he got the point._

_ The goggle-headed tamer looked her in the eyes. "I… I thought you wouldn't mind anymore. I'm sorry, Rika."_

_ But that wasn't good enough. She was mad. "Takato! I am _not _going out with you. That's final! I'm not going out with you and I'm not going out with anyone!" she exclaimed, annoyed that after all this time he wouldn't know better. "You know, forget it! I'm leaving. Don't call me again, goggle-head!" she exclaimed, turning away from him and leaving with Renamon._

"You know, Takato, that whole thing a few weeks ago was just stupid," she said, taking a deep breath. "How about I make it up to you. I hear there's a theater on the ship showing different movies throughout the day. If you want, we could go there, and just to hang out," she said, still somewhat uneasy. She hoped he didn't see it as a date and she hoped she didn't have that interpretation either.

"If… if you really want to," he said nervously, surprised that she would suggest that.

"I do," she responded, "as friends."

Takato nodded, before looking beyond his friend in surprise. He didn't know who the tall, lanky, brown-haired European was that was approaching them, but something about the man seemed off.

"Good afternoon, Rika Nonaka," he said in English, smiling. "My name is Gregor Shröder, but you can call me Greg. I am the reigning champion of Germany."

Rika had no reason not to be respectful toward the fellow contestant, but he seemed to have an odd air about him. "And what do you want?"

"Well, maybe we could talk about this over dinner," he suggested.

"Not interested, bud," the red-head replied. "I'd rather not go on any dates right now, okay?"

"Not as a date, but as a business proposition. I was thinking, Rika, that we could join forces for the tournament so that we would only have to face each other during the finals. What do you say?" he asked. Takato felt a twinge of jealousy at the other Tamer.

_I can't believe it. He's interested in Rika? _he thought, looking at him suspiciously.

"Sorry, but I have plans tonight," Rika decided. "And the answer is no. I want to win fair and square, without cutting corners. Besides, how do you know that we won't be in set brackets and end up against each other in the first round, anyway?" she asked.

"I have a friend on security here at the tournament who told me some secrets. That's all," he told her, smiling some more. Takato was starting to find it rather creepy.

"Still, it's a no. Now, if you'll excuse me, Takato and I are going to enjoy this little cruise, okay?" she said, grabbing Takato's arm and taking him with her past the man, who looked back at them in surprise until they left.

"Enjoy your little pleasure cruise, Rika," he said, smiling maliciously. He would have to figure out a way to make up for this part of the plan not working out. Thinking about that would take some time, but he had some to kill.

###

Finding the local chapter of Echelon was easy for Ezekiel. All it took was a phonebook, an address and some walking. The walk lasted miles and the teen's feet were sore, but he was glad he was doing this. Soon, his past would be behind him.

The Miami division of Echelon was in a large skyscraper toward the center of town. Ezekiel didn't let the size intimidate him and just kept on walking with Dobermon close behind.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the dog asked as they entered into the building.

"Definitely. I'm not sure what sort of sentence I'll get, but I feel I must do this."

After walking into the lobby, he noticed a blonde receptionist object to his partner. "I'm sorry, but pets aren't allowed in the building, so he's going to have to leave," she said, staring at him angrily.

"So, you think I'm a dog, do you?" Dobermon asked, glaring at the woman who stood there surprised. Ezekiel just showed her his digivice.

"I'm a Digimon Tamer and this is my partner, Dobermon. On what floor is Echelon's local headquarters?" he asked politely.

The woman looked on the edge of freaking out. "Oh, I'm soooo sorry. It's on the thirtieth floor. Just take the elevator and you will be right there," she said apologetically.

Ezekiel continued moving forward, his partner walking alongside him as they boarded the elevator and the dog hit the button with the number 30 on it with his nose.

"So, where do you think I'll go after this?" Dobermon asked, as the elevator closed, not wanting to think about what was next.

"You will go wherever the government takes you. If you are in danger, though, you are authorized to break out of wherever that is," Ezekiel explained, adjusting his sunglasses. He was nervous and the more nervous he got, the more serious his expression became.

Eventually, the door opened and the two walked into an office. The secretary at the front was more welcoming than the one downstairs. "Oh, a new Tamer," she commented, sounding too much like some sort of seventies housewife for his liking.

"Actually, I'm not from the area. In fact, I'm here to turn myself in for committing a crime," he said point blank, looking as calm as can be while starting to burn up underneath. The woman panicked, pressed a button and a few seconds later, a man came out, looking at the black-haired Tamer in surprise.

"You know, normally rogues attempt to flee the country instead of turning themselves in," the man said. The agent was a grizzled, white Cuban in his fifties with black hair, who gestured for Ezekiel to follow him. "What's your name, son?" he asked as he led the black-haired Tamer to an interrogation room.

"Ezekiel Guevara. I'm a member of the Tamers of Las Vegas," he said, going and sitting down, his partner by his side.

"Ezequiel Guevara… Let's see, two brothers, a cousin and an uncle are Tamers," he said, surprising Ezekiel with the cousin part and also amazing him with the tablet that he was reading it from, almost identical to the ones Tanya, Kentaro and Osamu had. In fact, the black-haired Tamer was amazed that they could have reverse engineered Osamu's technology so quickly.

"So, when do I get shipped off to Cañon City?" Ezekiel asked, deciding to make sure of the answer to that one before questioning the man about his cousin. As far as he knew, Echelon didn't do business in Chile and he, Diego and Fernando were the only ones of their generation in the United States.

"Actually, according to this: in the event of your turning yourself in, you get to wait here for a visit from Beckenstein," the grizzled director explained.

"You're kidding," Ezekiel said in surprise.

"No, I am definitely not. He should be here any moment now," the Cuban said.

"How is that possible? He lives in New York," the black-haired Tamer objected.

"And how did you reverse engineer that future technology, huh?" Dobermon asked, sitting down next to his partner.

The man chuckled. "Actually, this tablet was taken from the Academy's base when it was raided. We're still trying to reverse engineer this stuff but we've found out how to modify it to our liking. Plus, it helps that the Academy had the SDK for this… Android tablet in their computers. Now, to answer your question about Beckenstein's arrival, well, he's using what we call Digital Bridges, portals with similar features to that of bioemergences that allow instantaneous travel between places. Now, this is all classified, so don't let it get out, okay?"

"Somehow, I get the feeling you guys are going to do that yourselves," Ezekiel remarked as a tall American in his fifties, wearing a cowboy hat walked into the room.

"This is Mr. Beckenstein. I hope you enjoy each other's company," the Cuban said before walking out and shutting the door behind him.

Ezekiel looked up at the man, who pulled a chair out and sat down in it. The black-haired teen was beyond nervous at that point, thinking he should have asked to go to the bathroom before this interrogation. Beckenstein, on the other hand, just grinned seriously.

"So, are you going to administer my punishment or what?" Ezekiel asked.

"Are you kidding me? All charges against you were dropped. Osamu admitted everything," Beckenstein said. "Of course, if you _want _to go to Cañon City, be my guest."

"No, I think we'll pass," Dobermon said as soon as Beckenstein gave them the chance to, irritating Ezekiel slightly.

The tall man smiled. "Well, it turns out we have a secret mission for you," the man said. "From what I've read, you've faced Eduardo Diaz and lived."

"Quite right," Ezekiel said.

"Well, what would you say to getting a team together and dealing with him and a couple of other people? It turns out there are subversive elements within Echelon working toward unknown ends. What I'm going to need your group to do is go to Santa Corona, deal with Eduardo and then deal with these guys. In this packet are a couple recommendations for your team. You'll also find some other interesting information, particularly page three, paragraph six," the man explained, dropping a thick batch of paper onto the table in front of Ezekiel. The black-haired teen didn't waste any time going to the spot that Beckenstein highlighted, his eyes widening in surprise. He paused for a second before speaking again.

"Has this been confirmed completely," Ezekiel asked the man, who gave a nod.

"One-hundred percent," was Beckenstein's response as the guy leaned back. "I bet you weren't expecting that, huh?"

"On the contrary, I really wasn't." Ezekiel remembered back to when he last saw his uncle, that morning before he left as he read through this.

###

"_I hope everything works out for you in the end," Antonio said, taking his nephew to the airport. The two were on one of the numerous trains running through Tokyo._

"_What about you? Don't you wish I could still go and defeat Diaz for your sake?" Ezekiel asked._

"_To tell you the truth, I don't care anymore. I guess I kind of forgive him for his mistakes. He's misguided, in need of a father figure that cares. Hopefully his real father is someone that does," the large man responded, smiling. "As it is, he returned my computer, so he can't be all bad."_

"_You don't know him. Rika and a Tamer of Vegas that I've never heard of named Consuelo got the name Carlos Ortega from his mother. Unfortunately, there haven't been any updates on that," Ezekiel explained._

"_It all takes time. We just need to be patient," Antonio replied, smiling warmly._

"_So, how are you going to cope with me gone?" Ezekiel asked, a weary smile on his face._

"_I have work and friends to keep me busy. Heck, I even have plans tonight. I'm not sure about work, though. Yamaki's been acting kind of strange, like he doesn't trust me or something. I'm thinking of using my vacation time to go back to Chile for a little bit soon."_

_Ezekiel wondered why. Antonio had worked for him for a few months, so Yamaki should have trusted him._

###

_Oh, uncle, what have you gotten yourself into?_ He thought, worrying for the man. He would have to let him know as soon as possible, even though the secret might destroy him.

###

Next Chapter: Libro de Secretos

A/N: The plot grows more complex as characters already introduced come together. What will their ultimate plans be?

The digital bridge concept: I totally ripped off the Bifröst from the movie Thor with that one. Still, the concept is pretty simple and it (hopefully) doesn't seem too out of place with the show's tech. Then again, there is time travel involved (though it's almost completely backstory).

Originally, there was going to be a chapter before this from the villains' point of view, but I decided to incorporate that into a couple of later chapters.

And, if you're wondering, Johnny Beckenstein _is _a canon character. Also, Gregor appeared in Chapter 4, for those of you who are a bit confused. I don't plan on introducing new characters for a while (other than the occasional red-shirt), though there is the case of a digimon appearing in the next chapter by surprise. Guess what it is. Here's a hint: Dark Master.

Remember, I like reviews, even if you hate this fic. As long as the criticism is constructive.


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